The First Hawaiian Bank Foundation said it will donate $250,000 to Pu‘uhonua O Waianae, an organized houseless community near the Waianae Small Boat Harbor.
The donation will help develop a 20-acre property in Waianae Valley, purchased by the community in 2020, and build affordable housing for its residents.
The development broke ground Saturday on its first cluster of homes.
“To see how that community has grown and what they’ve built there was really inspiring for all of us here at First Hawaiian Bank,” said Cameron Nekota, president of the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation. “We really wanted to be supportive of that model, and certainly what they’re doing to create more permanence to that community.”
On Tuesday, captains in the Pu‘uhonua O Waianae community reflected on Saturday’s groundbreaking at their weekly leadership meeting. There, about 17 captains sat in a wide oval near the entrance of their current community, each representing a section of their village of about 250 people in total.
They covered various topics such as upcoming activities for their children, weekly cleaning duties and vaccination opportunities before discussing the groundbreaking of their new mauka village.
The captains all chimed in with various positive comments about seeing their plans put into motion.
“It’s amazing because the fact that we’re not just talking about it, we’re walking it,” one of the captains said.
Now that construction has begun, the first cluster of homes is expected to be completed by about April, said James Pakele, who is leading the work at the 20-acre site. Pakele is a longtime active supporter of POW, and the president of its nonprofit organization, Dynamic Community Solutions.
The lower portion of the property will be dedicated to growing agriculture such as ulu, avocado, kalo and sweet potato, which will help feed the village and keep the cost of rent down to $250 per month.
The founder and leader of POW, Twinkle Borge, said she plans to prioritize housing the children as the new homes are built. With the rainy season approaching, increased wind often batters and destabilizes their makeshift homes, she said.
“At one point where I had the kids with me, there was days where they went to school without sleeping,” Borge said. “So bringing the kids home to secure ‘em a little bit better — that’s one of my goals.”
As the land is developed, First Hawaiian Bank’s donation will not only help POW fund the development, it will also help POW maintain its flexibility, Pakele said. Unlike federal funds which come with limitations and deadlines, donations allow for flexibility, allowing Borge to continue accepting new members into the community.
The impressive level of organization that the community has achieved is difficult to understand without seeing it firsthand, Nekota said. In light of Hawaii’s housing crisis, Nekota feels that POW offers an alternative way to reduce the houseless population.
“What we’re recognizing is how important and how critical of an issue housing is,” Nekota said. ”We’re just a small part of this, but hopefully it goes towards this idea of empowering them, feeling good about what direction they’re going in, but also, in the long run, that this can really be kind of a model for other houseless communities in Hawaii.”
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Linsey Dower covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national service organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
