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.
Homesteaders and Waitlist Hawaiians Elect Leadership to SCHHA Governing Council
Honolulu, HI – The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) adjourned the 2019 Homestead leadership summit on August 25, 2019 after voting members elected 5 leaders from Kauai, Maui, Oahu, Hawaii island and Molokai to the Governing Council to serve the next 4 years.
“SCHHA serves the interests of all HHCA beneficiaries, whether on the land or on the waitlist, with 41 specific homestead areas statewide, that are SCHHA members,” said outgoing SCHHA Vice Chairman Kammy Purdy of Molokai. “I’ve been in leadership positions of the SCHHA for 25 years now, and this year, I’m proud to pass the baton to the next generation, especially on Molokai to Sybil Lopez.”
The 5 member governing council seated on Sunday are Ron Kodani representing Hawaii Island, Richard Soo for Oahu, Sybil Lopez for Molokai, Robin Puanani Danner for Kauai and Kekoa Enomoto for Maui. The SCHHA constitution also includes Kamaki Kanahele, as the Chair emeritus, from Nanakuli.
Danner and Lopez from Kauai and Molokai respectively were elected unanimously by SCHHA voting members as SCHHA Chairman and Vice Chairman.
“Mahalo to all of our Homestead Associations for giving me another 4-year term as SCHHA Chairman,” Danner said. “Together with members of our Governing Council, we look forward to working with the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, with DHHL, with the Hawaiian Homes Commission, with OHA and its board of trustees, and with the state legislature to pursue solutions that fulfill the promise of Prince Kuhio to our people.”
Danner also noted that aside from state government, SCHHA engages with the federal government, because the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 is a federal law ultimately responsible for overseeing state government in following the intent of Congress 100 years ago.
“We are hopeful and determined,” Danner said from her office on Kauai. “We know the poor performance of state government over 6 decades, where thousands have died waiting, is fixable, totally fixable. State government is missing powerful manao and experience – HHCA beneficiaries that remain when governors and directors revolve out, we are the keepers of vital knowledge and experience to make amazing improvements.”
The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations was founded in 1987 and is the oldest and largest self-governing federation of homestead associations which are comparable to tribes on the continent and Alaska. SCHHA is entirely dedicated to the sovereignty and self-determination of native Hawaiians eligible under the Congressionally enacted Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, similar to Indian Allotment Acts of the same policy era. The HHCA created 203,000 acres of trust lands to be distributed for homes, ranches, farms and businesses of native Hawaiians of 50% blood quantum or more.
Robin Puanani Danner
SCHHA Chairman & Homestead Housing Authority CEO
SCHHA Leaders Work on State Legislation for 2020 Legislature – To Improve Homesteads
Kapolei, Hawaii – The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) leaders are working on legislation for the 2020 Legislative Session to improve getting native Hawaiian onto their lands, as defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA).
“Our SCHHA leaders across the pae aina are calling on one another to advance solutions during the 2020 legislative session,” said Robin Puanani Danner, SCHHA Chairman from Kauai. “2020 is a significant milestone year, it marks 100 years since the enactment of the HHCA in 1920 – we simply must engage to make things work for the people, as Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole intended a century ago.”
The SCHHA is holding its annual Homestead Summit at the Pagoda Hotel on August 24 & 25, 2019 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm each day. Leaders will focus on a legislative initiative called The Hawaiian Lands in Hawaiian Hands Act of 2020, to advance technical amendments and reforms to the HHCA to provide the state agency, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) with clarity to move native Hawaiians onto their lands, for homes, for farms, for ranches, and for mercantile businesses.
“There are so many knowledgeable leaders on the land and on the waitlist in our SCHHA membership,” said Kammy Purdy, SCHHA Vice Chairman from Molokai. “Our annual summit next month will be solutions oriented, with a focus on The Hawaiian Lands in Hawaiian Hands Act of 2020. We must help the thousands on the waitlist, and definitely, we must get our people the lands they were promised 100 years ago, including lands to build strong businesses to prosper.”
Attendees to the Summit will work on several sections of the HHCA for technical amendments under the draft legislation, including how the Governor appoints the DHHL Director, clarifying language on the criteria to be met before DHHL is allowed to issue any lands in the trust to the general public, and establishes required foreclosure prevention mitigations that are common for all other residents in the State to help families stay in their homes. SCHHA has also identified sections of the HHCA to provide stronger guidance on the issuance of lands to those on the waitlist, as well as requiring a specific process for native Hawaiians to access mercantile lands for their businesses as defined under the 100-year old law.
“It’s clear, that over the decades, without specific federal regulations in place to guide the State DHHL, the purposes and intent of our HHCA land trust has gotten lost and even warped to serve the political agenda of people in power for a term or two whether in the Governor’s office, at DHHL, or even at the Attorney General’s office,” Danner remarked. “At the 100-year mark, we know it is time for us as native Hawaiians, to rise together, and give elected and appointed leaders very direct and specific solutions to make the HHCA work for its owners, the beneficiaries of the HHCA. That’s our goal, to do the work, and to work with our legislative branch of government, our State Senators and Representatives, on technical amendments and reforms that ensures the executive branch and DHHL can do a better job, and frankly, that honors what Prince Kuhio had in mind.”
The SCHHA mission is to ensure the implementation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, end the waitlist for lands, and advance the well-being of HHCA beneficiaries and their families. For more information, contact info@hawaiianhomesteads.org or contact 808-652-0140. To attend the SCHHA Summit register and RSVP to Rolina Faagai at rolina@hawaiianhomesteads.org.