Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 10, 1 October 1994 — Kauaʻi Habitat for Humanity's self-help successes: Homesteaders build their own homes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kauaʻi Habitat for Humanity's self-help successes: Homesteaders build their own homes

by Jeff Clark Homesteader May Orlando and her 'ohana - daughter LeiAnn Anderson, LeiAnn's husband Duke and their two keiki - have a new house. They built their four-bedroom hale on her Anahola homestead lot with kōkua coordinated by Kaua'i Habitat for Humanity. the nonprofit self-help housing hui supported by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and others. "Thank you," was all a tired

and sawdust-covered Duke Anderson could say after a day of construction during the hui's 11-houses-in-seven-days housing blitz hcld Aug. 28 - Sept. 3. "Thank you for your help." About 250 volunteers, some who flew in from the Mainland to help, pitched in. Habitat for Humanity is a national Christian organization based in Georgia whose mission is helping people get a roof over their heads.

Kaua'i Habitat for Humanity, the Garden Isle's arm of the organization, is headed by LaFrance K a p a k a - Arboleda. It was eomparatively easy to get the hui up and running because, she e x p 1 a i n s , "We*re a eommunity group that's part of a

national organtzation." And, they were able to set up shop in OHA's Kaua'i office: "That's more than words ean express, because we don't have to pay. And we're serving so many Hawaiians, so it's a good relationship." Active on Kaua'i since Hurricane 'Iniki, the organization built seven homes in seven days on the storm's anniversary (September 1993) thanks to kōkua from volunteers who trav-

eled from across the state and across the country. Early this year OHA's housing division gave them $60,000 for long-term planning, and then another $50,000 for the Anahola project. On top of that, they recently got $120.000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle and $2 million from Kaua'i County. Other homesteaders who built new homes during the blitz were Sandi & Moke Keale Jr., Phillip

& Damiana Vierra, Naomi Kaiwi-Kaneholani, Carolyn Gutierrez, Frank & Amber Rivera, Louis & Helene Nuesca, Roland & Lolita Ornellas, Hilario & Iwalani Leanio. John & Leila Kaneholani, and Ginger Contrades.

"The Habitat building pnneiple is not a handout, but a hand up," Kapaka-Arboleda said. "It targets a very special group of people - those falling below the medium ineome bracket." Self-help housing is a means by whieh a family ean save thousands of dollars on the cost of a home by building, with the help of skilled supervisors, their own house. In many cases this "sweat equity" is the deciding factor in enabling a Hawaiian family to

stop renting and move into a hale of their own. "Self-help housing of this type is still the most affordable means for Hawaiian families to achieve their dream of home ownership," continued on page 15

Homesteaders Iwalani and Hilario Leanio stand in front of the home they built with volunteers from Kaua'i Habitat for Humanity. Photo by Dante Carpenter

After a year of refurbishing, the 42-foot Mo'olele, a traditional double-hulled eanoe, is launched off Olowalu, Maui, following a rededication ceremony. The eanoe was built by kahuna kalai wa'a Keola LeVan Seguiera of Lahaina and members of Hui o Wa'a Kaulua.

Hawaiians build their own homes with kokua from OHA and Kaua'i Habitat for Humanity

from page 1 said OHA housing officer Stephen Morse. "I think we've learned quite a bit from the way that Habitat runs its self-help housing projects - by incorporating not only the sweat equity of the families but by marshalling

the support of hundreds of volunteers. If you're able to coordinate a volunteer effort like this it helps to speed up the process of building considerably." Morse along with the rest of the OHA housing division is setting the stage for other self-help projects that are being initiated

throughout the state. They will bring to those projects lessons learned on Kaua'i. "I think in our self-help projects that we're initiating elsewhere, what we want to do is incorporate some of the same techniques that were employed by Habitat on this project, to see whether we ean speed up the process of building selfhelp homes a little more," he said. Coming to the aid of the homesteaders was a diverse group of volunteers that included Califomian Kim Sapida, a UCLA architecture student; Kaua'i carpenter Floyd Adams, several prisoners from KCCC, and two dozen employees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. OHA government affairs officer Scotty Bowman swung a hammer; administrator Dante Carpenter led secretaries and other wāhine in the construction of roof tmsses; housing counselor Pua McCormick installed insulation along with Operation 'Ohana coordinator Maria Kaina and trustee aide Mehana Blaich. Former housing division consultant James Severson, who now

works with Kaua'i Habitat, coordinated materials and equipment. All pitched in with the spirit of giving and aloha. "Fd do it again," McCormick said. "It was worthwhile. It was, I don't know, hard to explain. ...

good for the soul." Morse, who did his share of nail-pounding and lumber-lugging, added, "In terms of OHA's participation in this project, everyone agreed that it was an extremely worthwhile endeavor - they learned a lot, they worked hard, they had fun; there was a real feeling of being able to contribute to a worthy project and a great deal of self-satisfac-tion that eame from actually physically participating in the building of the houses. The OHA team that was there did a tremendous job." Carpenter agreed. "This became a galvanizing and energizing experience for our OHA staff volunteers," he said. "The amount of physical work produced by the OHA team shows the power of cooperation and how quickly skills ean be learned when there is a worthy goal to pursue. ... I couldn't be more proud of this OHA team." Eaeh house had a skilled "lead man" who supervised the work. These leaders displayed mueh patience - ho'omanawanui - in working

with the neophyte construction workers, who rested only to make way for crews of electricians and plumbers who went from house to house putting in wiring and pipes. As Ka Wai Ola O OHA went to press, the new houses were

undergoing interior finish work - the installation of cabinets, closet rods, floor coverings and the like. The homes are located on Kalalea, Kawelo and Ioane streets on the Anahola homestead. Swing by and take a look if you have a ehanee.

LaFrance Kapaka-Arboleda

OHA secretary Apolei Bargamento: Typing, filing, ... carpentry? Photo by Jeff Clark

Part of the OHA volunteer crew along with other volunteers, Habitat for Humanity staff and homesteaders.