Nine low-income families move into new homes

By HUNTER BISHOP

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Nine families made homes out of new houses Tuesday in Hawaiian Paradise Park, all part of the HPP Mutual Self-Help Housing Project administered by the Hawaii Island Community Development Corporation.

The new homes made 263 for low-income families that HICDC has already built in 26 different projects around the island. HICDC is a local nonprofit organization funded by grants from USDA Rural Development funds and the County of Hawaii’s HOME Investment Partnership Program that stakes prospective homeowners to a piece of property and provides them with training, instruction and tools to build. The first-time homeowners just have to do the work.

All nine families selected for the program in HPP worked Saturdays and Sundays — not necessarily on their own houses — for the past six months as a requirement of ownership.

On Tuesday, everyone gathered on the new home of Keith Colon and family to mark the project’s completion with a dedication and blessing ceremony.

“This is move-in day,” Colon said outside the first home he has ever owned.

Colon, 49, actually helped build his neighbor’s house next door, belonging to Sasha Tasuhara and Kona Nihipali. It didn’t matter. All the families worked on each other’s homes and no one moved into their own until all were complete.

Colon’s girlfriend, Angie Agres, and two children, Shanessa Colon, 12, and Keith Colon, 10, will share the three-bedroom, two-bath home with 1,056 square feet of living space on a large lot.

Colon said he took his sister-in-law’s advice and entered the program. “I’m tired of paying rent, somebody else’s mortgage.”

“She’s excited,” Colon said, gesturing toward Angie at his side. “I’m still not sure what to make of it all yet. Maybe when I get the mortgage bill, it will all kick in.”

The landscaping is just starting to take root, and some of the furnishings were still sitting in a truck outside when the dedication ceremony started Tuesday, but the warmth of a family home was already a fixture.

Few were as happy as young Shanessa, who will have her own room for the first time. “Ever since I was little I shared a room,” she said. “Now it’s not half-half, brothers and sisters. I can decorate the way I want. I’m really happy my Dad and them did a lot of work. Now this house will always be there for us. I’m really happy.”

The shell of the house was put up quickly and is documented in a time-lapse video on YouTube — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3kHppwWCeo. The video condenses a full day’s work into a five-minute video.

Part of the challenge was being thrown together with a group of strangers to work on one of the most important projects of a lifetime. “The construction is the easy part,” said Teri Ferreira, program manager for HICDC. “It’s the relationships that’s hard.”

Ferreira started working for HICDC in 1997 when she was building her own home through the Self-Help Housing program. Financing is one of the most daunting challenges for families seeking to qualify, she said, but HICDC works with families and provides training to help families cope with the responsibilities of home ownership.

“I built my home this way,” Ferreira said. “I understand what these families went through.”

She said that Dennis Delfin, construction supervisor for the project, has to be part counselor, psychologist and family therapist in trying to move all of the homes to completion simultaneously. “Everybody comes to him with their problems,” she said.

Mortgages are usually about $700 or $800, Ferreira said. The portion that the homeowners pay is based on their family income. “Most times they pay less than they did when they were renting,” she said. About 300 families are on the waiting list.

“We’ve seen lifelong friendships develop from this program,” Ferreira said. “We’re not building houses, we’re building communities.”

Email Hunter Bishop at hbishop@hawaiitribune-herald.com.