Homestead families save $91,368 toward home purchases through nonprofit program

HONOLULU—The nonprofit Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) announced that participating families have saved $91,368 toward home purchases in a financial program funded by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL).

A statewide savings match program for Hawaiian Homestead families, called the Homestead Individual Development Accounts (HIDA) program, is designed to assist low to moderate income families to save for down payments and complete a home purchase.

“To date, we worked with 41 families in which 19 participants with a combined savings of $54,918, plus $142,500 in match funds moved into new homes,” said Rosalee Puaoi, who manages the program.

Through funding by the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA), CNHA worked with over 41 families to fill 30 HIDA accounts.  Participants will receive 3 to 1 matched savings up to $10,000. HIDA program participants become homeowners through financial literacy training, one-on-one counseling, home loan qualifications, and access to other services.

“These types of asset building and saving programs are powerful pathways to achieving homeownership,” said Robin Puanani Danner, CNHA president and CEO. “Our collaboration with the nonprofit, Hawaiian Community Assets, doing financial training, with First Hawaiian Bank for deposit accounts, and DHHL in providing the match funding is achieving goals for families located all across the state.”

For more information, visit www.hawaiiancouncil.org.