Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 8, 1 August 2022 — Heidi Haunani Tsuneyoshi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Heidi Haunani Tsuneyoshi

1 1 The most important step to addressing the affordable housing crisis is to dramatically and expeditiously increase the availability of affordable housing options to residents. As governor I will develop a comprehensive plan that identifies areas for redevelopment and/or new developments that are sited equitably throughout our state. This would include working with the Department of Hawaiian Homelands to drastically increase the number of homes for Native Hawaiians. Additionally, develop down payment programs for first time buyers as that is a major hurdle due to the cost of living and not being able to save up for a down payment. 2 | As governor I will work closely with our farmers,

ranchers, and industries that support the development of locally sourced food to both address our food security issues and develop export markets that ean support our eeonomy. There was a lot of focus on these issues during the pandemic but as soon as tourism eame back the conversations went quiet again. Diversification of our economy cannot wait for another crisis. It has to remain a priority everyday to make it a reality. 3 | As governor I would uphold the ruling by the Hawai'i Supreme Court by providing additional funding to public/charter schools. Within the Department of Education there are formulas as to how mueh a school receives per child. If a parent decides to enroll their child in a charter school, that funding should be made available in whole including the additional funding considerations that public schools have for extracurricular programs and capital improvement projects. Additionally, I will work with the Department of Education to ensure that Hawaiian immersion education is made available throughout our state so parents and children ean have access to Hawaiian immersion education within their communities. ■ 1. 3. 2. ^3 4. ^3