Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 37, Number 5, 1 May 2020 — Self-Quarantine Homestead Units! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Self-Quarantine Homestead Units!

j KĀNAKA FORWARD v > ON THE HOMESTEADS '

By Robin Puanani Danner

First and foremost, the entire SCHHA team and leaders statewide pray for the health and safety of all of Hawai'i's people during this global pandemic. As the oldest and largest

organization dedicated to the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA) serving the interests of native Hawaiian families, SCHHA has focused its attention on immediate solutions to pandemic challenges.

A self-quaranline unil going up. - Photos: Courtesy

p One of the I most notable I problems is the I reality of overP crowded and I multi-genera-I tional families I on the homeI steads. Prior I to the panI demic, it was I certainly an I inconvenience; I a statistic I supporting a | greater push ;. on the state to issue thousands more in home-

stead awards. Since the pandemic, it has become far more than an inconvenience. It has become an acute revelation of danger to elders, to high-risk family members, and to the ability of family members to self-quarantine at home. SCHHA leaders, along with staff at its nonprofit arm, the Homestead Community Development Corporation (HCDC), developed a COVID-19 response loan product to issue capital to families to enable them to install 10x12 foot self-quarantine units on their homestead lots. The Homestead Unit SelfQuarantine (HUSQ) program provides between $2,000 and $7,500 in capital, with loan payments ranging between $90 and $183 per month. Payments don't start until 60 days from closing to help families get the capital upfront to purchase materials, hire labor, and furnish the units to protect elders and

family members during the course of the pandemic. "I was raised on homesteads," said Faisha Solomon, HCDC Deputy Director and an enrolled SCHHA member "I don't know many families in my homestead that wouldn't benefit from a simple unit, whether its used now to keep family members safe, and next year to be a hobby or sewing room, or for fishing equipment." HCDC has raised $250,000 from fund investors locally and nationally for HUSQ to get capital into the hands of homestead family members to install the units in backyards. Solomon continued, "None of our kūpuna should be exposed to such a devastating disease just because there isn't a simple and functional 10x12 unit right across the yard." More than 40 inquiries from across the islands were received in the first five days since the HUSQ program was launched, pushing the non-profit team to get capital issued to families with the 'know-how' to purchase materials to build their own, or who need additional capital to hire a carpenter. "This is not the time for 'no ean,"' Solomon said. "This is the time to lean in, and to create self-quar-anhne units with affordable payments to serve our families long after the pandemic has been beat." For information on HUSQ, contact Rolina Faagai, HCDC Loan Fund Manager at info@hawaiianhomesteads.org. ■

A completed self-quarantine unil.

A naūonal policy advocate for Native self-gover-nanee, Danner is the elected Chair ofthe Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, the oldest and largest coalition of native Hawaiians on or waitingfor Hawaiian Home Lands. Born on Kauai, Danner grew up in Niumalu, and the homelands of the Navajo, Hopi and Inuit peoples. She and her husband raised 4 children in liomesteads in Anahola, Kaua 'i where they continue to reside today.

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