Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 3, 1 March 1993 — Keaukaha self-help housing project nears completion [ARTICLE]

Keaukaha self-help housing project nears completion

by Jeff Clark For the past two years, OHA has coordinated a self-help housing project in Keaukaha/Waiākea, on the island of Hawai'i. Only plumbing installation and electrical work were performed by licensed eontractors - the families did the rest. The project consists of 22 homes, 12 of whieh have been completed. Only interior finish work remains to be done on most of the other 10.

Despite numerous setbacks and a eomplehon date delayed until May, the finished houses are testimony to the power of "sweat -equity." "Everything that could go wrong in a project has gone wrong, but at the same time if you iook at the houses that are complete you ean see why a project like this benefits the lessees, the community, everybody," says OHA housing officer Stephen Morse.

Murphy's Law prevailed at times: the electrical contractor died, five of the homes were located in a tsunami zone and housing plans had to be modified, plumbers and electricians pulled a work stoppage, and the county possibly damaged several foundations by blasting for a sewer line. There have been enough positives among these setbacks to justify a second phase of nine or 10 houses in the same area. The problems that have been eneountered will help OHA's housing division anticipate and plan for

similar problems and have eontingencies in plaee on the next project. Morse attests that "the workmanship has been exemplary" on the houses that have been finished. OHA pays the Hawai'i County Eeonomie Opportunity Council (HCEOC), a nonprofit, charitable organization, to manage the pro-

ject in Keaukaha/Waiākea. The HCEOC trains and supervises the lessees and ensures everything is on track. "There's been some real success stories," Morse continued. "There's Elswood Noeau, who is a schoolbus driver; he and his family and his friends got together and built it from the ground up, and it's a big beautiful house. Did all the work themselves." Morse called self-help housing "probably the most affordable way for our Hawaiian families to build their houses. I just wish they could do more, and I'm looking for ways to do that. If you could do 50 at a pop, and get them done in a year, then you ean make an impact. That's where I'd like to take self-help housing."

"Self-help is probably the most affordable way for our Hawaiian familes to buiid their houses."