Roundtable on Preventing Homelessness & Foreclosures Scheduled with Lieutenant Governor Green in October 2019
Honolulu, HI — The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) has scheduled a Roundtable with Lieutenant Governor Josh Green on avoiding homelessness on Hawaiian Home Lands, through basic and common sense foreclosure prevention processes.
“There is an invisible crisis brewing on our trust lands that threatens too many families with eviction, adding to the overall Hawaii crisis of homelessness,” said Robin Puanani Danner, SCHHA Chairman. “This roundtable will engage our Lieutenant Governor in meaningful dialogue to share simple solutions that are common for all other Hawaii citizens, yet denied to native Hawaiians by state government in mitigating foreclosures.”
The SCHHA Governing Council with elected representatives from Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii Island are charged with moving policy priorities adopted by SCHHA members, one of which is to bring forward solutions that maintain satisfactory risk levels for Lenders of Last Resort like the DHHL loan portfolio while helping struggling families to restructure loan repayments and stay in their homes.
“We have an expert team of homesteaders and partners that specialize in the lending and housing market, and we didn’t have to dig very far to identify very easy, very low risk actions to keep families in their homes,” Danner remarked. “Every-time a native Hawaiian family is evicted, you add to the waitlist, you add to homelessness and you add to the instability of children in these families – totally avoidable. Loan delinquencies are not a sign of poor character, as a former banker, I can tell you, the vast majority of them are a sign of either a major life impacting event, a tough economy, or a loan servicer that is unaware of amazing and proven techniques called mitigations.”
The Roundtable with Lieutenant Governor Green and SCHHA Executive Leaders is scheduled for October 15 at the State Capitol. SCHHA recommendations on preventing homelessness for native Hawaiians is part of a larger technical amendments bill SCHHA is calling for entitled the “Hawaiian Lands in Hawaiian Hands Act of 2020” in the next legislative session, marking 100 years since the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.
“We are engaged, very focused at SCHHA to bring reasonable government reforms to bear on the lives of our people,” said Sybil Lopez, SCHHA Vice Chairman. “We must do our part in working with our elected state legislators to advance homestead and waitlist well-being, it’s time to prosper.”
SCHHA was founded in 1987 and is the oldest and largest self-governing federation of homestead associations comparable to self-governing tribes on the continent and Alaska. The HHCA established a land trust with 203,000 acres to be distributed for homes, ranches, farms and mercantile businesses to native Hawaiians defined in the HHCA.
For more information on the SCHHA Roundtable, contact info@hawaiianhomesteads.org.
Homestead Leaders Applaud OHA for Homestead Housing Program Investment
ANAHOLA, Kauai – The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) awarded a 2-year grant of $484,114 to the nonprofit, Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) also known as the Homestead Housing Authority. HCDC provides economic development and housing services, including financial literacy, foreclosure prevention, mercantile business training and tiny home technical assistance.
HCDC was founded by the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) in 2009 as a dedicated tax exempt nonprofit focused on affordable housing and job creation on or near Hawaiian Homelands as defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.
“We applaud and mahalo OHA for this important investment of our trust funds in the abilities and expertise of the SCHHA and HCDC,” said Kammy Purdy, SCHHA Vice Chair. “These are subject areas that our homestead leaders and our staff are experts in. The entire SCHHA Executive Council appreciates this partnership with OHA to serve homesteads.”
The 2-year grant funding will distribute $200,000, nearly half of the total grant award, directly to families through match savings accounts to help with first and last month rent deposits, or to build additional dwelling units on their homestead residential or farm lots.
“This OHA investment will also support a much needed service to help families avoid foreclosure and lease cancellation,” said Robin Puanani Danner, SCHHA Chairman and HCDC CEO. “Sharing information with the thousands of family members living in our homestead areas, on their rights and responsibilities under the HHCA, in conjunction with family budgeting and business acumen is key to successful homesteading.”
SCHHA leaders founded HCDC 10 years ago to be 100% governed by SCHHA members, to serve the growth and well-being of families on the homesteads, and to implement solutions developed by SCHHA policy leaders around housing and economic well-being.
“Most people don’t realize that roughly 70% of the residents on homesteads are less than the 50% blood quantum required under the HHCA to obtain a homestead award,” Danner commented. “These thousands of Native Hawaiians are family members of the 10,000 lessees that are eligible for a homestead award of land. We know that success for homesteaders includes the success of entire families in better understanding the Act itself, so our housing services have a deep component teaching the brilliance and simplicity of the HHCA.”
HCDC will report its impact numbers to OHA as it does to the SCHHA and other funders for its programs. In addition to building affordable housing and building economic development projects, HCDC will add a direct loan fund to serve homestead farmers and ranchers, as well as transportation loans to help beneficiary families get to jobs or to work in micro enterprise businesses.
For more information about the SCHHA or HCDC, contact info@hawaiianhomesteads.org, or Rolina Faagai, HCDC Loan Fund Manager.
Homestead Hawaiian Leaders to Attend National Rural LISC Conference convening more than 250 rural community development experts to catalyze new opportunities in rural America
Anahola, HI — The Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) announces the nonprofit will send staff and board members to the 2019 Rural LISC Seminar, an annual national conference for rural community development professionals. This year’s Seminar will be held in Monticello, New York June 4-7 and will provide a unique forum to learn about new rural economic development opportunities; gain valuable insight on critical issues facing rural America such as the 2020 Census; develop asset building tools and organizational development strategies; and offer a networking environment for sharing knowledge with rural development colleagues from across the country.
“Rural LISC continues to be an important partner in our work on the trust lands of our native Hawaiian people, where we live and raise our families,” said Iwalani McBrayer, HCDC chair of the board of commissioners. “Mahalo to Rural LISC for sharing resources and knowledge to advance our mission to create jobs and affordable housing.”
LISC President and CEO Maurice Jones will welcome attendees with a keynote address. Participants will engage in three days of plenary and workshop sessions organized around:
- Economic Development – exploring new ways to catalyze economic development through downtown revitalization efforts, innovative wealth and skill-building strategies, and Opportunity Zones.
- Capacity Building – discovering how to increase organizational capacity through bridging generational differences in the workplace, asset and property management, and innovative financing tools.
- Community Development – learning about the latest rural community development trends and how to best respond to them, including the opioid crisis, transportation barriers, and fighting isolation/striving for inclusion among our LGBTQ community.
“HCED exemplifies the very best in bringing innovative programming to their community, and we are delighted that they are attending this year’s Seminar,” said Suzanne Anarde, LISC Vice President and Rural LISC Director.
About HCDC
Founded in 2009, HCDC is dedicated to job creation and affordable housing on or near Hawaiian Home Lands, a federal land trust created by the U.S. Congress under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1921. HCDC is the only nonprofit community development corporation governed by native Hawaiian leaders eligible for lands within the HHCA. For the last 10 years, HCDC has developed affordable single-family homes, several economic development projects including a certified kitchen, open-air marketplace, an enterprise center, and is embarking on a 50-unit rental housing project. HCDC is an emerging Native CDFI, delivering technical assistance on tiny homes and additional dwelling units, and is focused on delivering loan capital to family farms and ranches located on Hawaiian Home Lands to advance relevant rural jobs and economic opportunity.
About Rural LISC
Launched in 1995, Rural LISC is the rural component of the largest community development support organization in the country, called LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation). For 24 years, Rural LISC has partnered with rural communities, helping to forge innovative solutions that lead to prosperity and opportunity. Rural LISC’s investments in rural America have totaled $1.25 billion in grants, equity and low-cost loan funds. Rural LISC has leveraged this investment resulting in $3.3 billion from public and private sources, to produce 35,000 affordable homes and apartments, create 4 million square feet of commercial and community space, assist 700 businesses, create 12,000 jobs and support 20 early childhood centers. By generating resources and investing in the grassroots efforts of its 89 partner community-based organizations, Rural LISC is committed to making rural communities good places to live, work, do business and raise children. Learn more at www.lisc.org/rural.