Officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have instituted new rules that would allow more people of Hawaiian ancestry who are beneficiaries of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to get into their own homes. The
Officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have instituted new rules that would allow more people of Hawaiian ancestry who are beneficiaries of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to get into their own homes.
The new rules would enable DHHL beneficiaries who meet the minimum 25-percent Hawaiian blood quantum requirement to qualify for Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages.
The change would allow many more DHHL beneficiaries on Kaua‘i and throughout Hawai‘i who have homestead leases to qualify for home loans, according to state officials.
“This is a significant rule change because it will help put, and keep, more Hawaiians on the land,” said Micah Kane, DHHL chairman, in a news release.
The mortgage loan program, which takes into account liberal qualification requirements, is intended to help borrowers obtain loans.
The borrowers would usually be moderate-income and/or firsttime buyers and those to whom a homestead leases have been transferred and have met the minimum 25-percent Hawaiian blood requirement.
The FHA provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders throughout the United States and its territories.
DHHL officials, meanwhile, are accelerating the award process, and the change makes it possible for many Hawaiian families to qualify for loans, Kane said, adding, “This is an opportunity many people have been waiting for.” The new rules are now in effect and all DHHL lessees can qualify to obtain FHA-insured mortgages, including Hawaiian lessees with a minimum 25-percent blood quantum requirement, Kane said.
DHHL officials also will certify the person applying for the loan is in good standing, and can repay the loan, Kane said.
DHHL beneficiaries no longer have to “wait until someone passed away before you could qualify for a loan,” Kane said.
“Now families have the option to transfer (homestead leases) earlier and build their homes now,” he said. Kaua‘i native Prince Jonah Kalanianaole Kuhio represented the Territory of Hawai‘i in Congress from 1903 and 1921, and is considered the father of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act that set aside lands in Hawai‘i solely for Native Hawaiians, and that eventually led to the creation of DHHL.
Kuhio recommended a 1/21- percent blood quantum qualification, but Congress set a 50-percent requirement instead.
The original DHHL lessee had to have met a minimum 50-percent, Hawaiian-blood requirement, and upon the death of the lessee, a spouse, child or grandchild who was at least 25 percent Hawaiian blood could be eligible to assume the lease, DHHL officials said.
Other members of the deceased lessee’s family who met the 50 percent Hawaiian blood requirement also could eligible to assume the lease.
In 1999 though, the federal law was amended to allow homestead lessees to transfer their leases while still living to a spouse, child or grandchild, who have at least 25 percent Hawaiian blood, or any other person with at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood, DHHL officials said.
The shortcoming was that the 25 percent Hawaiian transferee was not eligible for a FHA-insured loan, until now. The FHA insures mortgages on single-family and multi-family homes, including manufactured homes and hospitals. The FHA is the largest insurer of mortgages in the world, insuring nearly 33 million properties since its inception in 1934.
Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.
