Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 6, 1 June 2011 — Hawaiian Homes welcomes new Commissioners [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian Homes welcomes new Commissioners

ByTreenaShapiro Gov. Neil Abercrombie's new appointees to the Hawaiian Homes Commission bring new perspectives andpriorities to the table, as well as a shared eommitment to advance the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands mission in ways that could create ripple effects throughout the state. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands provides homestead leases to beneficiaries who have more than 50 percent Hawaiian blood. All the new Commissioners have committed to advancing that mission and want to go beyond merely building houses to strengthening communities, supporting kūpuna and offering Hawaiians more opportunities for self-sufficiency. "DHHL controls such an important Hawaiian asset. We are the people of the 'āina and we ean benefit from the 'āina," says hnaikalani Aiu. "We have the ability to build more than just houses for Hawaiians; we ean build Hawaiian communities and native economies that will empower our people." Aiu, a fonner Deputy Planning Director and Planning Commissioner for Kaua'i County, believes the Hawaiian Homes Commissioners are big-picture thinkers who see DHHL as a major player in restoring the Hawaiian race. "My first priority would be to actually work with the other Commissioners to create a vision for our time and a list of priorities that fulfill that vision," he said. Ian Lee Loy, who replaces new Chairman Alapaki Nahale-a as the East Hawai'i Commissioner, has a vision that involves increasing awards of agriculture leases, whieh along with pastoral leases, have lost emphasis while the department has worked to improve its residential homestead offerings. A eouple years ago, Lee Loy, a Detective with the Hawai'i County

Poliee Department's vice unit, became more involved with the native Hawaiian community through the Keaukaha Pana'ewa Fanners Association. This participation inspired him to seek the opportunity to serve the broader Hawaiian community. "I'm a lifelong homesteader, bom and raised," he says. His parents were strong advocates for the Hawaiian community and the Hawaiian Homes mission, and in a sense he's following their example. As he describes, "They fought for access and service for Hawaiian beneficiaries." As a fanning beneficiary with an agricultural lot, Lee Loy's interest in offering the same tootherbeneficiaries springs from personal experience. But he also sees the bigger picture. Not only ean fanning allow beneficiaries to become more self-sufficient, but it also falls in line with the state's goal of lessening dependence on imported goods. Ieremy "Kama" Hopkins, the Aide for Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Robert Lindsey, sought an appointment because, to put it simply, he felt he had something to give. "A

Hawaiian Homes Commissioner is there to serve, not to be served," he explains. He has three priorities going into his tenn, starting with being honest about DHHL's financial position. He'd like to ask beneficiaries and others for solutions that could help the department expend its limited resources wisely - and without compromising services - "while helping them to be financially and emotionally prepared to become a homeowner." In addition, he wants to find new and innovative revenue streams to improve on the department's services. His final goal, he says, is to "succeed in finding new ideas and implementing those ideas for putting more people on to land and into homes. Hopefully we ean start with those that have been on the longest amount of time." "These seem like unreachable goals," he notes, but that's not how he sees them. "I beheve these goals ean be met and I will keep trying to achieve them." Fonner State Rep. Miehael Kahikina, whose tenn begins in July, was a chief proponent for Hawaiian

Homes issues as a lawmaker, and he remains actively involved in the Nānākuli Hawaiian Homestead Conununity Association and the Sovereign Councils of the Hawaiian Homelands Assembly, along with other connnunity organizations. OHA submitted testimony supporting Kahikina's nomination, stating, "Mr. Kahikina will bring to the Hawaiian Homes Connnission a weahh of knowledge and experience relating to homestead issues, state govermnent and program administration that will greatly aid the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in serving its beneficiaries." Renwick "Unele Joe" Tassill, who retired as the State Capitol Tour Program Coordinator in 2002, grew up on Hawaiian Home Lands in Waimānalo. Now, at 72, he has returned to Waimānalo to live in the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands kupuna hale. In the 1960s, Tassill was part of a group formed to address shortcomings of the Hawaiian Homes Connnission. "Now that I live back in Waimānalo, there's a lot of shortfalls here, too," he observes.

He tells the otherkupuna apartment residents, "I'm hstening," because advocating for the kūpuna will be a priority during his tenn. He'd like to see more kupuna hale on all islands so that all Hawaiians ean return home at the end of their lives, rather than having to stay in O'ahu hospitals and nursing homes. Like Lee Loy, Tassill wants to help native Hawaiians, but he recognizes that doing so could help all seniors. If more native Hawaiians ean move out of public housing into homestead communities like the one he lives in now, it would open up more spots in senior communities for those who don't qualify for homesteads, he points out. As for the future of the conunission, Tassill asks, then answers his question: "Where do we go from here? We make it better. We ean pull together to make it better whether you're Hawaiian or you're not. In the end, you know who wins? Everybody wins." ■ Treena Shapiro, a freelance writer, is a fortner reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and Honolulu Advertiser.

IMAIKALANI P. AIU Kaua'i Commissioner

Special Assistant to the Kaua'i Housing Director

LEIMANA K. DAMATE West Hawai'i lnterim Commissioner*

Executive Director 'Aha Kiole Council

JEREMY KAMA H0PKINS 0'ahu Commissioner

Aide to 0ffice of Hawaiian Affairs Trustee Robert Lindsey

MICHAEL KAHIKINA 0'ahu Commissioner

Executive Director Kahikolu 'Ohana Hale 0 Wai'anae

IAN LEE L0Y East Hawai'i Commissioner

Hawai'i lsland Poliee Detective

R ENWI CK V.l. TASSILL 0'ahu Commissioner

Retired State Capitol Tour Program Coordinator

AGE: 35 TERM: 2011-2015

AGE: 59 TERM: 2011-2015

AGE: 37 TERM: 2011-2014

.2 O *

AGE: 61 TERM: 2011-2015 (Term begins in July)

AGE: 47 TERM: 2011-2015

AGE: 72 TERM: 2011-2015 (Term begins in July)