Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 3, 1 March 2005 — Moratorium hurts homesteaders' descendants [ARTICLE]

Moratorium hurts homesteaders' descendants

My parents are sitting on a 40-acre Hawaiian homestead lot, patiently waiting to subdivide it to their six children. But a moratorium was enforced preventing them from doing so. Should their lots be labeled "prime agricultural lots," what will happen? Do we have to heeome farmers? Do they sell it like everyone else, hoping to leave us a little bit of something that they got for nothing? It is disappointing to me to see homes that are being sold here at skyrocket prices, let alone homestead lots being offered at $20,000-$75,000 just to take over a lease that cost them nothing. What will happen to our people?

Will we be forced to move away just to have a home of our own because we can't afford one here? Who then will be left to carry on the legacies of our kūpuna? Having the moratorium lifted will allow the younger generations to be able to build their own homes for their own families. It will allow us the opportunity to build a stronger foundation for our families here in a plaee we love, a plaee that we eall HOME! Keep us Hawaiians in Hawai'i! E ola mau! Pi'Hani Horner Moloka'i

Leka Kalele