The dream of homeownership is now a reality for 10 Hawaiʻi Island families just in time for the holidays.
The Hawaiʻi Island Community Development Corporation (HICDC) blessed the first phase of its ʻĀinaloa Mutual Self-Help Housing Program during a ceremony held Friday, October 27, 2023. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes will serve families earning between 30% and 80% of area median income.
“This program is honestly the reason why I am confident I don’t have to move away — I can stay home,” said 23-year-old Shanessa Colon, the proud owner of one of those homes along with her boyfriend and son, Ocean. “This is my home, and I can stay here now, and I get to raise my son here.”
The Hawaiʻi Island Community Development Corporation’s Mutual Self-Help Housing Program assists eligible households to obtain a home financed by the U.S. government and/or conventional lending services and coordinated by the local nonprofit.
Upon securing financing, households are then grouped to create a self-help project in which all households contribute labor toward the construction of all homes in the project.
Specialty trade work is conducted by licensed subcontractors while the remaining work — about 65% — is constructed by the households with training/guidance from contracted construction supervisors. It’s that “sweat equity” contributed by the group of households that helps to reduce the overall cost of building all the homes.
The 10 homes blessed on October 27, 2023, took the 10 families about 10 months to build. Costing about $250,000, the monthly mortgage is about $1,100. Families also had zero down payment.
“All the families did a great job. Giving up every weekend — Saturdays and Sundays — to come out here to build and paint through all the different types of weather and different kind of issues that can arise. There’s a bunch of things they had to go through, but they persevered and here they are,” said Terri Leonard, HICDC program manager.
The completion of the 10 homes in ʻĀinaloa brings the total number of self-help homes that the HICDC has supervised to 391 since the nonprofit was established in 1991.
“It’s good to know that 391 low-income families now have homes,” Leonard added.
A second phase of 10 single-family homes is planned for the ʻĀinaloa Mutual Self-Help Housing Program. Like the initial phase, the second phase will feature three-bedroom abodes for households earning between 30% and 80% of area median income.
If all goes as planned, another 10 families will be celebrating the milestone of homeownership in summer 2024.
“The County of Hawaiʻi Office of Housing and Community Development cannot fully express the depth of its gratitude to the dedicated nonprofit partners who work tirelessly to uplift Hawai’i Island communities through programs like this that help local families who would otherwise not have the opportunity to become homeowners,” said Housing Administrator Susan Kunz. “These beautiful homes stand as living proof that they and their children can shape their own futures.”
According to the 2019 Hawai’i Housing Planning Study, the County of Hawai’i needed to add 10,796 affordable housing units by 2025 to meet the community’s needs.
Since taking office in late 2020, Mayor Mitch Roth’s administration through the Office of Housing and Community Development has worked closely with its partner developers to increase the number of units in the affordable housing pipeline from about 1,200 units to over 6,600 units.
The 10 homes blessed on Friday are among an estimated 159 units to be completed in 2023 with an additional 217 units anticipated to be completed in 2024.