Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 12, 1 December 1994 — OHA lottery provides ehanee of home ownership [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA lottery provides ehanee of home ownership

Story and photos bv Jeff Clark A ehanee at owning a home — that's what brought Hawaiians to Roval Kunia one recent Saturday morning for a housing lottery made possible by First Hawaiian Bank. Castle & Cooke. and the Oftice of Hawaiian Affairs. Castle & Cooke offered to OHA 1 0 "affordable" homes at discounted rates in its Royal Kunia phase I project in 'Ewa. mauka of Village Park and Waipahu. Qualifying OHA beneficiaries - regardless of blood quantum - will be able to purcha.se the homes at a $4,000 discount and with a waiving of certain title and escrow fees. Additionally, they will remain eligible for any other discount programs offered in connection with the Royal Kūnia properties. "There is not a plaee in the United States whieh ean beat (this

program)," OHA chairman Clayton Hee said. The optimistic Hawaiians had to verify their Hawaiian ancestry with OHA's Operation 'Ohana to

be included in the lottery. So on Oct. 15, about 150 Hawaiians gathered in a eul de sac at Royal Kunia to see how their luek would fare. Because not all of the first 10 families picked may qualify, plans were made to draw 20 lottery tickets. It was later decided that all 300 tickets would be drawn, precluding the need to hold additional lotteries in the future. The accounting firm Deloitte & Touche pulled the tickets in the interest of fairness and accuracy. "We feel really lucky" to be picked number 14, said CIeone Asahara, who was on hand with her husband Garret and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Brandi. Garret agreed, saying that with their ninth anniversary fast approaching it seemed like high time to stop renting and start own-

tng. The three presently live in a Wahiawā apartment. Alfred and Ivania Paulino were picked number 72, but were still optimistic. "We ftgure we still have a ehanee," Alfred said. After the lottery entrants' luek was revealed, their finaneial backgrounds and credit histories were to be scrutinized by loan officers in the weeks following. Look in future issues of Ka Wai Ola O OHA for reports on the first families to move in to the eight town-

houses and two single-family homes being offered. Chalk up Royal Kunia as at least one brand-new neighborhood on O'ahu that will be well-popu-lated by Hawaiians.

That sits just ftne with Castle & Cooke Homes President Tom Leppert, who said, "We're not just in the business of building homes, we want to be in the business of building communities."

OHA housing officer Stephen Morse gives the lottery tickets a whirl

A model unit similar to the homes being offered in the OHA-Castle & Cooke-First Hawaiian Bank program.

Cleone and Garret Asahara and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Brandi smile after Cleone's name was the fourteenth to be chosen in the lottery.

Castle & Cooke President Tom Leppert, second from right, gathers with OHA Trustees Abe Aiona, A. Frenchy DeSoto and Clayton Hee at Royal Kunia, site of the Oct. 15 OHA housing lottery.