Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 12, Number 5, 1 May 1995 — Self-help housing workshop promotes self-reliance, self-governance [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Self-help housing workshop promotes self-reliance, self-governance

by Patrick Johnston The message coming out of an April 13 OHA housing workshop was clear: If you want something done, do it yourself. Kūkulo Pono (Building for the Future) was tagged on to the end of a week-long Native American housing conference last month in Honolulu. It brought together housing experts from around the state and from various Native American tribes to share ideas and promote self-help housing in Hawaiian indigenous communities. "We wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to use technical experts from Indian country," says OHA housing officer Steve Morse, whose division, along with OHA's eeonomie development division, sponsored the conference. "We also want to expand the activity of self-help housing and eeonomie development in Hawai'i and

bring together all the groups that have doing such activities to exchange information and network." The morning session included addresses from Native American and Hawaiian housing experts including Jacqueline Johnson, chairperson for the National American Indian Housing Council. She emphasized the importance of families being thorough in their housing plans, making sure that everything - whether it be agreements with contractors, housing departments, or housing authorities - is put in writing and nothing is left to ehanee. Johnson was impressed by the self-help housing projects in Hawai'i, saying that their emphasis on sweat equity fostered a strong sense of self-reliance among the indigenous people involved, a self-reliance missing in housing projects on reservations.

Other morning speakers included James Berg, a member of the Navajo Nation. He spoke about the importance of having financial institutions available to provide the necessary support for housing and other needs on reservations and in native eommunities. "We feel it is very important to bring in financial institutions." he said. "If you don't include banks you are going to have problems." Berg brought up the importance of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), legislation that increases the commitment of financial institutions to communities across the country, including the Native American community. Berg noted that eaeh bank is required to iiave a CRA statement, a statement that is public record, and that it is bad for banks to have a negative CRA rating, In the afternoon session, Francis Kauhane, a Big Island homesteader, spoke about his efforts building infrastructure in Pu'ukapu after Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHFTL) officials repeatedly told him they could not afford to supply the area with water. In response, he formed a corporation with other homesteaders in the area and they built a water line themselves, collecting money from all the affected residents and providing rules for the distribution of the water. "Eaeh homesteader had to join the corporation to get water and had to abide by its rules and regulations." Kauhane calls their philosophy one of "self-reliance, self-help and self-gover-nanee." Also speaking in the afternoon was Earl

» Moler, a Maui resident and president of Kahikinui 'Ohana. His group has been working with the DHHL to establish guidelines for a subsistence community on undeveloped Maui home lands in Kahikinui on the south side of the island. The eommunity initially would have little or no infrastructure but homesteaders could have access to land without the drawn out process of waiting for DHHL to establish water lines and electricity. What would be established would be a kind of self-help community where community members would be responsible for building their own homes and developing infrastructure. Speaking at the workshop, Rick Arakaki, a planner with the DHHL who is involved in the project, said the department will eonstruct an unpaved road and determine the location of the different Kahikinui properties, but the rest would be up to the homesteaders. "Lessees would be responsible for all other improvements," he said. Native Hawaiians would be responsible for the enforcement of rules and would be required to build a home within five years after receiving the land. The Kahikinui development is part of DHHL's year-old Kuleana Program. The program is in its developmental stages and will be introduced to other parts of the state after the department examines and overcomes problems that might arise in Maui. Arakaki said that the DHHL encourages self-help housing and believes this program addresses segments of the population that want to live off the power grid or that don't have enough money to buy a house.

Francis Kauhane talks to workshop participants about his successful attempt to build infrastructure on Hawaiian home lands. Photo by Patrick