Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 1, 1 January 2020 — HOUSING FOR HAWAIIANS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOUSING FOR HAWAIIANS

HO'OKAHUA WAIWAI | HOUSING

Anuhea anel Doug Josue with their keiki in front of their new home purchased through a housing program that OHA helped fund. - Photo: Kawena Lei Carvalho-Mattos With 2019 meelion rent prices at $2,400 per month and the state average for a single-family home at $630,000 (the Honolulu average exceeds $1 million) affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues in Hawai'i. Native Hawaiians are particularly affected by this crisis. "One of the highest priorities for our beneficiaries is to be able to live and raise their 'ohana in our kulōiwi (homeland)," said OHA Board Chair Colette Machado. "This is becoming increasingly difficult as the cost of living in Hawai'i continues to soar." OHA has provided more than $40 million over the past decade in support of housing security to include building affordable homes, developing infrastructure for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL), supporting transitional shelters, and providing funding to organizations like Hawaiian Community Assets to provide counseling and financial literacy classes. In October 2018, OHA received the 2018 Native Hawaiian Housing Award at the 17th Annual Native Hawaiian Convention for its long-term commitment to addressing the housing needs of the Native Hawaiian community. Nevertheless, homeownership in Hawai'i remains a daunting prospect - particularly for the thousands of Kōnaka Maoli struggling to secure homes in their native land. With limited land resources, the cost of housing has been rendered out-of-reach for many Hawaiians by unfettered real estate investment and luxury developments. Scholar David Malo highlighted the significance of a house as a means of securing well-being for the 'ohana. As in other cultures, having a house was an indication of prosperity. But land ownership was a foreign concept to Hawaiians. The 1848 Mōhele and 1850 Kuleana Act ushered in a new mindset: allow individuals to purchase land. This irrevocably affected land tenure and undermined the traditional relationship between Native Hawaiians and the aina, adversely affecting the well-be-ing of the lōhui. It is estimated that 60% of Hawaiian families are two paychecks away from being homeless. In Hawai'i, Native Hawaiians are disproportionately living in public housing, receiving rental assistance, sharing housing, moving from house to house, and receiving services from homeless service centers. And more than 22,000 Native Hawaiians linger on DHHL's waiting list. Now more than ever, as housing prices continue to soar, additional funding and creative, courageous solutions are needed to help solve Hawai'i's affordable housing shortage without derailing land protection measures in the process.