Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 11, Number 5, 1 May 1994 — OHA hires housing counselor [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA hires housing counselor

by Jeff Clark Pua McCormick started work as OHA's housing counselor March 15. Housing officer Stephen Morse says McCormick was hired to organize a housing information and referral service in order to handle the many calls made to OHA by Hawaiians in need of housing. "Most of these are calls that need immediate attention," says Morse.

"Some of them ean be handled by a referral or just by providing them with some information, but others are more complicated and require someone to work with them to see what other kinds of assistance ean be provided." Callers may be delinquent on their rent or mortgage payments, have questions

about OHA's home-

steader loan program, or want to find out about Hawaiian home lands - "It's a wide variety," Morse says. In her fīrst weeks on the job, McCormick spent her time telephoning public and private apartment eomplexes and shelters to see where rental units are available and making referrals for Hawaiians who need housing help. ■=

Who calls McCormick? "The homeless. A lot of homeless people are calling me, and I'm helping them get into shelters, but waiting time for a shelter is one to three months, and some of them, they need it like yesterday. So I'm working with that, I'm also helping them get assistance from the food banks. So it's other services in addition to housing: I refer 'em where to go." McCormick brings to OHA eight and a half years of experience with housing, including management of subsidized housing projects on O'ahu and Maui.

She grew up in Pearl City and on the North Shore and graduated from Waialua High School. Her husband Stan is a union organizer, and they have four sons and two granddaughters. Morse is enthusiastic about his new hire. "She is the housing information and referral service, as far as I'm concerned. ... It's an attempt to meet the immediate and short-term housing needs of Hawaiians. In many cases, Hawaiians, like everyone else, just need to be pointed in the right direction; give them a lead and they ean go take it on their own."

Where to eall for housing kokua:

Government agencies that provide housing assistance in the form of rental subsidies: Hawai'i Housing Authorily 1002 N. SchoolSt.. Bldg. A Honolulu, HI 96817 832-6040 (Rental Subsidy Unit) 832-5960 (Applications Unit) Department of Housing & Community Development City & County of Honolulu 5 1 Merchant St. Honolulu. HI 96817 523-4266 3

Private companies that manage puhlie housing projects: Chaney, Brooks & Company 606 Coral St. Honolulu, HI 96813 544-1600 Finance Investment Company 195 S. King St. Honolulu, HI 96813 548-5190 Loyalty Enterprises, Ltd. 45 N. King St.,Suite601 Honolulu, HI 96817 543-0511

Pua McCormick