The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) together with our member Homestead Beneficiary Associations (HBAs) – such as the Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association (AHHA) and the Hoʻolehua Homesteaders Association (HHA) – and nonprofit developer Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC) are working to establish Homestead Homeownership Centers (HHCs) on each island. We started in Anahola, Kauaʻi, and are currently building our second facility in Hoʻolehua, Molokaʻi.
SCHHA was founded in 1987 as a coalition of HBAs and includes more than 40 HBAs working together to advance good policy and the fulfillment of the promise of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA).
Registered with the U.S. Department of Interior, SCHHA is the only national HBA dedicated to both enrolled native Hawaiians issued a homestead lease and those on a homestead waitlist. An HBA is defined by the federal government in 43 CFR Part 47/48, as a self-government representing the interests of and provision of services to native Hawaiians defined in the HHCA.
HCDC was founded in 2009 by the SCHHA and its members to establish a housing and economic nonprofit developer to pursue and implement HBA projects statewide.
Our HHCs are being developed to dedicate space for newly-awarded and waitlisted homestead families to contemplate homeownership through owner builder projects. This need is great and growing.
For example, in the second phase of the Piʻilani Mai Ke Kai subdivision in Anahola, Kauaʻi, after sitting on many vacant lots with infrastructure in place for nearly a decade, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) has decided to award all the lots as vacant lots giving families the chance to build what they can instead of having to defer their award if they were unable to qualify for a high-priced DHHL developer model home.
Piloted first on Kauaʻi, the HHC features resources for financing, contractors, material supply kits and professional services to support those waitlist families receiving vacant lot awards. The facility was created through repurposing a shipping container into a beautiful space that allows our families to dream, plan and then act.
The second HHC currently under development in Hoʻolehua is being overseen by HCDC Moloka`i Boardmember Kammy Purdy. Kahanu Noa and Guyton Caldeira of Nā Koa Development (NKD) have been instrumental in coordinating the shipping container and materials. They also work with homestead families to help walk them through their options and the cumbersome (and sometimes confusing) permitting process.
Hawaiian Lending & Investments (HLI), SCHHA’s Hawaiian Home Lands Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) nonprofit also works with our families to deliver financial services and access to capital. We’d like to extend our “mahalo nui loa” to everyone doing this important work for our homestead families, to Hoʻolehua homesteader Bob Danner for volunteering his labor, and to Enterprise Community Partners, NeighborWorks America and Papa Ola Lōkahi for funding.
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