Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 11, 1 November 1986 — Self-Help Concept Makes it [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Self-Help Concept Makes it

Oahu Self-Help Housing Corporation, a non-profit housing corporation, teaches low-moderate families how to build their own houses through the team selfhelp method. Eaeh family contributes 32 hours a week of labor to help eaeh other build their own houses. Under the direction of a construction supervisor the families are taught all the skills necessary to build the houses. Only the electrical and plumbing work is sub-contracted. Through the "sweat equity" about 50 percent of the cost of the house is saved. Farmers Home Administration financing enables low ineome families to afford the monthly mortgage payments by providing interest rate subsidies. In its first two years of operation OSHHC assisted 24 low ineome families on the Waianae Coast build 3-bed-room, l%-bath, double wall houses for $27,000. The families' incomes ranged from $10,000 a year to $18,000 a year for an average size of six members. Diverse ethnicities, occupations, educational backgrounds, etc. were represented in the teams. For future projects, OSHHC would like to undertake both self-help rehabilitation and newconstruction, build in urban as well as rural areas, expand to the neighbor islands and target moderate as well as low ineome families. Families who received leases through the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands are presently being interviewed for self-help projects in Lualualei, Nanakuli and possibly Waimanalo. Interest has also been shown by DHHL families who received leases on the neighbor islands. The next project undertaken by OSHHC wiU be with Department of Hawaiian Home Lands families awarded leases in the Lualualei subdivision on the Waianae Coast. There are already seven families in the self-help team project. They will build 3 and 4 bedroom houses

for a total cost of $30,000. The director is seeking another 8- 10 families for this project. Both FmHA and FHA financing will be available for applicants. Interested families should contact Claudia at 545-4133. Future projects will be with Department of Hawaiian Home Lands families awarded leases in other areas of Oahu and the neighbor islands. If anyone is interested in obtaining more information about these projects, he/she should contact the OSHHC office at 545-4133.

These are some of the 24 homes in Waianae.

Here is a closeup of one of the Self-Help homes.