Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 3, 1 March 1989 — First Self-Help Housing On Hawaiian Homestead [ARTICLE]

First Self-Help Housing On Hawaiian Homestead

In late 1987, OHA's Self-Help Housing project received $%,773 in federal funding from the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), (Ka Wai Ola O OHA, December 1987). Matched by $25,626 of OHA funds, the money is being used to provide administrative services, technical assistance, and construction supervision and training to seven families building their own homes in the Waianae Kai subdivision of Lualualei Homestead. This is the first self-help housing project to be tried on homestead land and the project has set a major precedent. The Oahu Self-Help Housing Corp. was contracted to provide the technical assistance and the administrative services, including assisting the families with construction and home loan applieations. The project also includes recruiting families with homestead leases for future self-help housing projects. The seven families that were selected for the self-help housing team, were chosen after interviews with approximately 50 applicant families. In the first several months of the project, the families were busy submitting the required paperwork to qualify for their home loans. Onee the paperwork was out of the way, the seven families went through a 10-lesson home-ownership course where they learned about the self-help process of building several homes at onee, including how to read and understand house plans and specifications, and how to use construction equipment and tools.