Finally: Homes To Be Built On Waiahole Land
By MidWeek Staff
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Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona with Rep. Colleen Meyer and Self-Help Housing executive
director Claudia Shay (right) at the Dec. 16 ground-breaking in Waiahole
Valley. Photo from Michele Van Hessen.
Five families broke ground Dec. 16 for their future homes in Waiahole Valley.
The Self-Help Housing Corporation of Hawaii will provide technical assistance to the residents, some of whom have been waiting decades for this step.
According to state Rep. Colleen Meyer, the ceremony “culminates 40 years of effort by those who participated in bringing this dream to fruition.”
Following the valley’s anti-development campaign of the early 1970s and the state’s purchase of the valley, residents and farmers finally signed long-term leases for their land in 1998.
Members of the Waiahole Waikane Community Association, state officials, architects, engineers and others also attended the ground-breaking ceremony, and Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona gave a keynote speech.
The Self-Help program requires each family to contribute 36 hours a week to building their homes and help others build theirs. Among the five families taking this step are police officer Nathan Oshima, farmer Jimmy Magallanes and Cookie Lagapa, a cook at Kahaluu Elementary.
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