Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. GABBARD. Mr. Chair, I rise today in strong support of continued funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant.

In 1921, Congress enacted the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) to help Native Hawaiians who, after the overthrow and annexation of the Kingdom of Hawaii, were largely disenfranchised from their traditional homelands. HHCA sought to provide for the rehabilitation of the Native Hawaiian people through a homesteading program that would reconnect them with former Crown Lands.

In 1959, the State of Hawaii adopted the HHCA as a provision of its constitution in accordance with the Hawaii Statehood Admissions Act, Public Law 86-3. This reaffirmed the responsibility that this nation has to its indigenous people and forever embedded the mission of HHCA in Hawaii's modern history and society.

The Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant provides the financial means to support HHCA and its mission of promoting Native Hawaiian well-being through homesteading. This is an important step towards reconciliation for the historical injustices that underline the social and economic inequality of our Native Hawaiians.
Safe and affordable housing helps to empower families to be productive members of society. Housing fulfills physical needs by providing security and shelter from weather and climate. It fulfills psychological needs by providing a sense of personal space and privacy. It fulfills social needs by providing a gathering area and communal space for the family. These factors combine to help ensure the well-being of our future generations, and are why continued funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program is so important.

Homesteading provided through this program helps to ease Hawaii's high cost of living and allows Native Hawaiians to remain connected to their traditional homelands. I strongly urge funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program, and would like to express my support for the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act as well.

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