Hawaiian Homeownership Opporunity Act of 2007

Floor Speech

HAWAIIAN HOMEOWNERSHIP OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2007

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Ms. HIRONO. I thank the gentlewoman from California for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 835, the Hawaiian Homeownership Opportunity Act, which reauthorizes the Hawaiian Home Lands Homeownership Act of 2000. The act assists the State of Hawaii's Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, or DHHL, to provide opportunities for homeownership for low-income Native Hawaiians.

In 1921, Congress passed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act with the purpose of establishing a homesteading program to place eligible Native Hawaiians on lands in Hawaii designated for such purpose. The law was passed at the urging of the Territory of Hawaii's Delegate to Congress, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole. Some 200,000 acres were set aside for the purpose of providing Native Hawaiians with land.

With the passage of the Statehood Act of 1959, the control and administration of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was transferred to the newly formed State of Hawaii. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands was created in 1960 to administer the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The mission of the Department is to ``manage the Hawaiian Home Lands trust effectively and to develop and deliver land to Native Hawaiians.''

Despite the good intentions of the Congress, progress of meeting the goal of delivering land to Native Hawaiians was slow. Most of the Hawaiian Home Lands were located in areas far from jobs, and infrastructure such as roads and utilities were nonexistent. Many individuals were on waiting lists for more than 30 years.

The Hawaiian Home Lands Home Ownership Act of 2000 has provided the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands with much-needed resources to expand opportunities for home ownership among low-income Native Hawaiians. Especially critical has been the ability to use these funds to develop the infrastructure that makes placing homes on these properties possible.

I urge my colleagues to support reauthorization of this important program, and I thank the Chairs, Barney Frank and Maxine Waters, for their leadership in bringing this bill to a vote.

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