[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 27 (Friday, February 18, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E317]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011

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                               speech of

                          HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 15, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other 
     departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes:

  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of the amendment 
offered by my colleague Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa that would 
restore funding for the Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant program.
  The Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant is an authorized program 
under title VIII of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act.
  The block grant is used to carry out affordable housing activities 
for Native Hawaiian families who are eligible to reside on Hawaiian 
Home Lands, which were established in trust by the United States under 
the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920.
  In 1903, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole was elected to serve as 
Hawaii's delegate to Congress. One of his most notable achievements was 
the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which set aside some 
200,000 acres of land for Native Hawaiians. The reason for the 
legislation was the landless status of so many Native Hawaiians, who 
were displaced by newcomers to the islands and became the most 
disadvantaged population in their native land. Congress passed the 
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, which is still in force, in recognition 
of its responsibility toward Native Hawaiians.
  As with other indigenous people, Native Hawaiian views on land tenure 
were different from that of the newcomers, resulting in loss of much of 
the land that had been traditionally occupied and cultivated by Native 
Hawaiians to these newcomers.
  Despite the good intentions of the Congress and the State of Hawaii, 
progress in meeting the goal of delivering land to native Hawaiians was 
slow. Most of the Hawaiian Homelands were located in areas far from 
jobs and infrastructure like roads and utilities, were nonexistent. 
There are currently 23,000 native Hawaiians on the waiting list for 
residential, farm or ranch lots. Some families have been on the waiting 
lists for decades.
  I want to share the story of the Lincoln family. Aloysius Lincoln 
first applied for Hawaiian Home Lands in 1949. In 2006, a wait of 57 
years, his daughter, Frances Segundo, claimed a lease for a Department 
of Hawaiian Home Lands home in Kapolei on the island of Oahu. Frances 
claimed the lease because her father had unfortunately passed away two 
years earlier. Frances herself was just a baby when her father signed 
up for the program.
  The $13 million that the amendment restores to the Native Hawaiian 
Housing Block Grant program provides the opportunity for Native 
Hawaiian families to live the dream of homeownership.
  The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) is one of the most 
efficient users of funds provided under the Native American Housing 
Assistance and Self-Determination Act. The majority of these funds have 
been used for infrastructure development on Hawaiian Home Lands 
benefiting low-income residents. DHHL has also been able to use these 
funds to: Assist families in applying for FHA mortgage insurance and 
HUD loan guarantees; operate a direct loan program to provide new 
housing units and improve existing structures; support local housing 
and housing service providers such as Habitat for Humanity; and 
initiate highly successful pre- and post-purchase homeownership 
counseling programs.
  I urge my colleagues to support reinstating funding for the 
successful Native Hawaiian Housing Block Grant Program.
  Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much).

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