Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 19, Number 7, 1 July 2002 — Housing development progresses [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Housing development progresses

Now that several months have passed it was opportune for OHA to review the progress of its adopted programs in land acquisition and housing development, Trustee Linda Dela Cruz and I inspected sites under consideration for OHA acquisition, The parcels in Kaka'ako are under the oversight of the Hawai'i Community Development Authority (HCDA) and were examined for compatability with the mission of OHA and other Hawaiian agencies, The exploratory inspection was useful with potentials, This initial examination was to coincide with other activities ongoing to pursue these ceded land parcels for the OHA headquarters after many long years of being without one, A more dramatic inspection was to the huge hangar building at Kalaeloa (Barbers Point) manufacturing site to view the models of homes being built and for locating on the 45 home DHHL site nearby, The Kalaeloa manufacturing plant ean possibly build 500 homes per

year when necessary, OHA is engaged in home development to meet a housing need of long standing. There is a serious unmet housing need for native Hawaiians, Within the native American population of the United States, native Hawaiians experience more housing problems than ,American īndians and Alaska Native households combined, Overcrowding for native Hawaiians is 36 percent compared to all other households at 3 percent, Among the native Hawaiian population, 70 percent have incomes that fall below the median family ineome for Hawaii, ,And of these 50 percent have incomes below 30 percent of the median family ineome, We were informed that developers have ordered the same models of the Quality Homes of the Pacific that were shown to us for their own development purposes, Additionally many calls are coming in from others, The first three bedroom two bath models have 965 square feet of floor space and another model will

have 1,200 square feet of floor space, The most impressive feature of the models was the solid steel frame of the house upon whieh is built the walls and roofing also of steel and termite proof materials, The homes are designed to withstand 120 mile per hour sustained winds or a hurrieane and comply with HUD standards, Eaeh home has roof overhangs to fit into the decor of existing neighborhoods, These Quality Homes ean be shipped inter-island via barge for between $6,000 individually and about $2,000 in bulk barge shipments, The sturdy steel frame and strong steel base ensures undamaged and intact arrival at the home's destination, īnnovative financing permits making first time homeowners now areality, To help new families enjoy home ownership by leaving rented housing for owning while building equity in their homes, OHA ean look with satisfaction at this home construction project for addressing a large if not the largest community need, Because the the average cost

of a family home package is now about $365,000 and a complete Quality Home delivered to a lot ean cost $50 per square foot or less than $ 50,000 "free on board" to a persons lot and there to be finished, īn conjunction with the foregoing affordable housing the U,S, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), just provided $10 million in housing block grant funds this year to help the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) fund affordable housing activities, And another $10 million is included in HUD's FY 2003 budget with potential for more funding in the future, The Section 184A Loan Guarantees for Native Hawaiian Housing Program will provide $1 million of Federal loan guarantees to leverage millions of dollars of private mortgage resources to provide Native Hawaiians with greater access to mortgage loans for one-to fourfamily housing located on Hawaiian Home Lands, This is a first, affordable housing and mortgages are now finally available together, ■

Charles Ota Trusfee, Maui