Anahola Homeownership Resource Center to open this year
ANAHOLA, Hawaii – The Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association will soon be opening the Anahola Homeownership Resource Center on the island of Kauai with funding support from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Funded in part by a grant under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act, AHHA is revamping its public facility offices located at the entrance of the Anahola homestead community to bring critical services in homeownership and foreclosure prevention to families and residents.
“This has been a vision of our board for some time, something that we know will help our families have access to the resources and expertise they need,” said Lorraine Rapozo, AHHA president. “It’s truly the result of partnerships, and different individuals and organizations working with us to make this a reality in Anahola. All the way back to Mayor Baptiste in 2001, when the County of Kauai awarded us our first grant to purchase our offices from DHHL, nothing could have happened without that first step, and all of the encouragement we received so many years ago from the county and DHHL.”
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After purchasing the facilities, AHHA and its volunteer board and members cleaned up the property to begin the task of bringing meaningful services to Anahola, which includes a technology enterprise that has trained and employed a dozen residents since 2003. AHHA then applied for a HUD grant administered by DHHL to add the homeownership resource center, and requested the technical assistance of the nonprofit, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement to help implement the project and comply with all the grant rules.
“Aunty Lorraine, Aunty Winnie and Aunty Amanda at AHHA are amazing Anahola women, no question,” remarked Robin Danner, CNHA CEO. “They are determined to get things done, with very little fanfare, and with lots of humor – and yes, they know how to pull people in to help them. Our work at CNHA is really an extension of their vision.”
AHHA has also entered into a partnership with Hawaiian Community Assets, another Native Hawaiian nonprofit, to operate the homeownership resource center and deliver financial education and foreclosure prevention help to Anahola families.
“This could not have come at a better time,” remarked Michelle Kauhane of HCA. “Families all across the state are facing serious challenges to keeping their homes and finding solutions that help them right now. The leadership at AHHA makes our work possible in Anahola, we could not be more pleased to put staffing and services in at the Anahola Homeownership Resource Center, and it’s truly a Godsend, mahalo Ke Akua.”
AHHA is a homestead association of Anahola homesteaders founded more than 30 years ago, to promote the quality of life of the Anahola community. For more information on the Anahola Homeownership Resource Center, contact HCA at (808) 587-7886.
