Posted on: Saturday, March 26, 2005

Village residents realize dream

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

WAIMANALO — Two years ago Chianti Camara, 35, contemplated moving to the Mainland, where she could afford to buy a home. But when the single mom learned that her affordable-rental unit would be up for sale, she was happy to stay and live her dream in Hawai'i.

Camara is among 23 residents of Waimanalo Village, which was once sugar plantation housing, who have bought their rental units under a program with the state Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i. Thirty-eight of the 73 rental units were made available this year. The process began three years ago, but for people like Camara who have low to moderate incomes, the long wait was worthwhile.

"I'm so glad that I was one of the few that had this opportunity because any other way, there's no way I could own my home in Hawai'i," Camara said. "I was at a place where I could start looking into that but there was nothing available anywhere, remotely reasonable that I could afford."

Camara grew up in the home she purchased and could have continued to pay rent to Waimanalo Village, but buying the house means she can now add on, make changes as she wishes and leave the property to her children, she said.

Camara said she relied on the Waimanalo Village Residence Corp. to walk her through the process, provide legal counsel, hire a real estate agent and mortgage broker and bring lenders to the community to discuss what was available.

June Tavares, 54, was key to setting up the process for the Waimanalo Village Residence Corp. That group developed the village in 1978 when the state wanted to tear down the old plantation homes and send residents to townhouses built by the state.

But the residents rebelled, organized and marched at the state Capitol. They persuaded then-Gov. George Ariyoshi to grant a 64-year lease on the property for $1 a year if they could form a nonprofit organization that would develop the land to provide homes for people with very low to moderate income, Tavares said.

Initially, 140 single-family homes were built in three phases with the idea of selling all the homes to the residents. But not all could qualify, so 67 were sold and 73 became rentals. But even those were too costly for the previous residents. The units were placed under a 20-year contract with the federal Section 8 program that subsidizes rents for low-income families, she said. It was the only way to keep those families in the community, Tavares said, and the contract put a hold on any further rent-to-own deals.

In the meantime, 40 more homes were built in 1994 through a self-help program, she said.

The federal government wasn't interested in renewing its Section 8 contract when it expired, so residents again sought permission to purchase their homes, she said. The process moved slowly and eventually fell under a December 2004 deadline to complete transactions for 22 families. This year, two more families were able to purchase their houses; 14 remain available.

Residents paid $112,500 to $135,000 for two-, three- and four-bedroom homes, where they are allowed to have farm animals, including horses, pigs, cows and goats.

People who buy the homes do not own the land; the state does. When the lease expires in March 2043, if the state has not renegotiated, the property owners would be forced to move.

Even so, being able to buy their home now is part of the American dream, Tavares said. "You can continue to live in the neighborhood you like and where your kids have been raised."

The purchase price of the houses will go toward paying off the village corporation's mortgage, financing a recreation center for the community and renovating the remaining rental units, she said.

Tavares wants to expand the community's organic farm and start a fish farm for the community to supply home fish tanks.

Stephanie Aveiro, executive director of Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawai'i, said the home purchase program is a continued effort by the state to provide quality housing. HCDCH holds the lease on the property but does not contribute anything toward the construction or maintenance of the home. However, the agency does provide support in processing the sale through its Affordable for Sale Program.

"If it were not for the Affordable for Sale Program, many of these families would never have had the chance to own a home," Aveiro said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.