Opinion ID: 871559
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Purpose Number One: The Development of Home, Agriculture, Farm and Ranch Lots

Text: As to the first purpose, the development of home, agriculture, farm and ranch lots, the delegates made only passing references to the sufficient sums needed: The $1.3 to $1.6 million is for administrative costs at present. [DHHL's] need is more. The way the State itself can fund all the rest of the projects . . . is through mutual agreement with different parts of the government here in Hawaii. Debates in the Committee of the Whole on Hawaiian Affairs Comm. Prop. No. 11, in 1 Proceedings, at 422 (emphasis added). Although more than $1.3 to 1.6 million is mentioned, no further details were provided as to how much more, and Delegate Sutton elaborated only on his idea of mutual assistance as follows: One way the DHHL can save the State funds, and thus insure that there will be enough funds to meet their [site development] needs, is through mutual assistance with other agencies, such as the Hawaii Housing Authority (HHA). Qualifications for DHHL and HHA are very similar in that they both require that the applicant net not over $10,000. DHHL could provide land to those who qualify under both DHHL and HHA programs. The total cost for land acquisition to the State in order to develop homes for the needy under DHHL authority is zeronothing contrasted with the State having to purchase land for the same people qualifying for housing. As it is now, the Hawaii Housing Authority has to condemn the land, pushing the average cost of a home over $60,000. The poor cannot afford these high-priced homes (myself included). They could afford homes much more easily under mutual assistance programs. Debates in the Committee of the Whole on Hawaiian Affairs Comm. Prop. No. 11, 1 Proceedings, at 414; see also id. at 422. Sutton's comments spoke only to saving the State money, not how much money the State should provide to DHHL as sufficient sums for the development of home, agriculture, farm, and ranch lots.