Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 7, 1 Iulai 2002 — June declared home ownership month [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

June declared home ownership month

The month of June was declared Home Ownership Month, Many hands working together create great things and great things are happening for our Hawaiian community in housing, ī'm excited to announee that the U,S, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has appropriated $10 million for housing to be used by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for homesteaders, This program coupled with OHA's FANNIE MAE Loan Program makes it a great day for Hawaiian housing, The OHA Homeownership Program provides up to $135 million in financing for Hawaiians and informational workshops, Congratulations to the 1,800 excited people statewide who have signed up for the workshops, īn a news conference held on June 13 at 'īolani Palaee, Hawai'i's own Mike Liu, now assistant secretary for Public and īndian Housing, assured that the Department of

Hawaiian Home Lands would be receiving $9,600,000 in block grants from HUD for housing, The housing block grant is an extremely valuable and versatile tool as it ean be used for a variety of creative activities to meet the individual needs of Native Hawaiians, The funds ean be used for the construction or reconstruction of affordable housing, down payment and closing costs assistance, direct lending or interest subsidies, housing counseling, payments to prevent foreclosures on homes, tenant-based rental assistance, safety and security activity, and mueh more, The Section 184A Loan Guarantees for Native Hawaiian Housing Program will provide Federal loan guarantees to leverage millions of dollars of private mortgage resources to provide Native Hawaiians with greater access to mortgage loans for one to fourfamily housing located on Hawaiian Home Lands, With the

greater flexibility of this new Federally-backed loan guarantee program, Hawaiian Home Lands Lessees will be able to tap a variety of mortgage financing programs that up to now have not been possible under the FHA Section 247 program, The Federal loan guarantee is expected to leverage up to $40 million in mortgage funds.

īt is anticipated that the U,S, Senate bill that helped to create the language that included the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will be amended this year to include OHA as a second Hawaiian Housing Agent, This would allow OHA to match federal funds to create more funding and housing opportunities for all Hawaiians, Also important to note is that in January of this year, OHA partnered with Quality Hom.es - headed by Kali Watson, to produce steel constructed homes at a cost of under $60,000 per home, making it possible for anyone with a lot to put a home on it at a very affordable price, On a survey done three years ago by OHA, Hawaiians were asked to list by priority what was most important to them, Housing was one of the five top listed as most important, ī ask for your continued support as we move forward and encourage your comments, MĀLAMA PONO ! ■

lt is anticipated that the U.S. Senate bill that helped to create the language that included the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands will be amended this year to include OHA as a second Hawaiian Housing Agent.

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Rowena Akana Trustee, At-large