HUD Gives $12.7M Housing Grant For Hawaiian Housing

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced it will provide $12.7 million for affordable housing for low-income native Hawaiians.

The announcement comes on the 10^th anniversary of the creation of HUD’s Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant. During the past decade, the program administered by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has built, acquired or rehabilitated more than 460 housing units. Programs funded by the block grants have also provided counseling services and home-repair training for more than 800 low-income Hawaiian families.

The funding will boost the affordable housing inventory on DHHL lands through development of infrastructure, including roads and utilities; assisting eligible families in the purchase of homes by providing down payments and other financial assistance; and the provision of loans and grants for repair or replacement of substandard homes.

Other assistance, according to a HUD statement, will take the form of reducing housing costs for eligible families to install alternative energy devices including solar water heating and photovoltaic panels, and helping to educate Hawaiian families in managing their finances, home buying and maintenance, and avoiding foreclosure.

“I’m extremely proud of our close association with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands over these past 10 years,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a statement. “As our housing markets continue to recover, this grant will make a difference in the lives of hundreds of families struggling to find decent and affordable housing to live. HUD continues its support for reauthorization of the NHHBG program to ensure that affordable housing opportunities will continue to be provided to Native Hawaiian families into the future.”