The Introduction of the Hawaiian Home Ownership Opportunities Act of 2011

Floor Speech

* Ms. HIRONO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Hawaiian Homeownership Opportunities Act of 2011. I would like to thank Congresswoman COLLEEN HANABUSA and Congressman DON YOUNG for cosponsoring this important bill.

* This bill does two things. First, it reauthorizes a section of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA) that supports programs that create homeownership opportunities for low-income Native Hawaiian families on Hawaiian Home Lands. Second, it would continue and expand access to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) section 184a loan guarantees, which would reduce the cost of homeownership for low-income Native Hawaiian families and would also reduce risk by lowering monthly mortgage payments.

* The Congress has a long and bipartisan history of supporting Native Hawaiian housing issues. The Hawaiian Homeownership Opportunities Act of 2011 continues that tradition.

* Passed by Congress in 1996, NAHASDA reauthorized a system of housing assistance provided to tribes by HUD through the Indian Housing Block Grant program. This program provides funds directly to tribes for housing development and other new approaches to create housing.

* In 2000, the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant was established under NAHASDA to allow another indigenous group support for affordable housing activities. Funds for this grant are administered by the State of Hawaii Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the entity charged with carrying out the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act. The funds are used primarily to develop infrastructure on Hawaiian Home Lands, which tend to be in the most isolated parts of the state.

* 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 204,000 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 from the federal government to the newly formed State of Hawaii. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands was created in 1960 to administer the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.

* While homeownership rates in Hawaii are typically lower than national rates, homeownership rates for Native Hawaiians in the state are even lower. In Honolulu, 38 percent of Native Hawaiians own their homes compared with 48 percent for non-natives. This disparity continues in other areas of Hawaii, where 51 percent of Native Hawaiians own their homes compared with 60 percent for non-natives.

* Native Hawaiian households in Hawaii are also more likely to be low-income than non-native households. Owner households on Hawaiian home lands are among the poorest of Native Hawaiian households with approximately 25 percent having incomes at or below 50 percent of the median income for the given area.

* There is a continued need for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant. I urge my colleagues to support the Hawaiian Homeownership Opportunities Act of 2011.

* Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much).

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