Letter for Monday, May 15, 2017

• Affordable housing is God’s plan

Affordable housing is God’s plan

We need affordable housing and viable agriculture. Existing development policies misuse Hawaii’s limited land and water resources.

As written in the Hawaiian Constitution of 1840: “All laws of the Islands shall be in consistency with the general spirit of God’s law.” The Bible’s land-use criterion is compatible with Hawaiian culture.

Biblical Levitical practices prevent powerful land monopolies and promote prosperity. Even if you’re not Hawaiian, consider the benefits of returning the land to its rightful owners.

Restoring property is associated with “Atonement,” making amends and reconciliation. “Don’t take advantage of each other. Observe my laws and you’ll live secure in the land. … You must provide for the right of redemption of land.”— God.

Basic principles entail public use and urban- designated land remaining unchanged. Equitably compensated agricultural/rural-designated land is retained by Hawaiians in perpetuity; leasable at a fair price.

Leasehold property allows for affordable housing since the cost is the buildout rather than the land value. Likewise, agricultural land would be valued for what it produces.

God’s law states, “The alien living among you is to be treated as native-born. Love him as yourself.”

“‘You are to distribute this land among yourselves and the aliens who have settled among you and have children. You are to consider them native-born, along with you they are to be allotted an inheritance’ — declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Thankfully, grace and forgiveness is God’s redemption plan through Jesus’ sacrificial love. “The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness.” Hawaiian allodial/kuleana-land practices aligned with God’s ideas will succeed.

Michele Lincoln, Lahaina