Home > 105th Congressional Bills > S. 109 (rs) To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians. ...S. 109 (rs) To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians. ...
105th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 109
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 19, 1998
Referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To provide Federal housing assistance to Native Hawaiians.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Native American Housing Assistance
and Self-Determination Amendments of 1998''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the United States has undertaken a responsibility to
promote the general welfare of the United States by--
(A) employing its resources to remedy the unsafe
and unsanitary housing conditions and the acute
shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings for
families of lower income; and
(B) developing effective partnerships with
governmental and private entities to accomplish the
objectives referred to in subparagraph (A);
(2) pursuant to the provisions of the Hawaiian Homes
Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), the United States
set aside 200,000 acres of land in the Federal territory that
later became the State of Hawaii in order to establish a
homeland for the native people of Hawaii--Native Hawaiians;
(3) despite the intent of Congress in 1920 to address the
housing needs of Native Hawaiians through the enactment of the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.),
some agencies of the Federal Government have taken the legal
position that subsequently enacted Federal housing laws
designed to address the housing needs of all eligible families
in the United States could not be extended to address the needs
for housing and infrastructure development on Hawaiian home
lands (as that term is defined in section 801 of the Native
American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996,
as added by section 3 of this Act) with the result that
otherwise eligible Native Hawaiians residing on the Hawaiian
home lands have been foreclosed from participating in Federal
housing assistance programs available to all other eligible
families in the United States;
(4) although Federal housing assistance programs have been
administered on a racially neutral basis in the State of
Hawaii, Native Hawaiians continue to have the greatest unmet
need for housing and the highest rates of overcrowding in the
United States;
(5) among the Native American population of the United
States, Native Hawaiians experience the highest percentage of
housing problems in the United States, as the percentage--
(A) of housing problems in the Native Hawaiian
population is 49 percent, as compared to--
(i) 44 percent for American Indian and
Alaska Native households in Indian country; and
(ii) 27 percent for all other households in
the United States; and
(B) overcrowding in the Native Hawaiian population
is 36 percent as compared to 3 percent for all other
households in the United States;
(6) among the Native Hawaiian population, the needs of
Native Hawaiians, as that term is defined in section 801 of the
Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act
of 1996, as added by section 3 of this Act, eligible to reside
on the Hawaiian Home Lands are the most severe, as--
(A) the percentage of overcrowding in Native
Hawaiian households on the Hawaiian Home Lands is 36
percent; and
(B) approximately 13,000 Native Hawaiians, which
constitute 95 percent of the Native Hawaiians who are
eligible to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands, are in
need of housing;
(7) applying the Department of Housing and Urban
Development guidelines--
(A) 70.8 percent of Native Hawaiians who either
reside or who are eligible to reside on the Hawaiian
Home Lands have incomes that fall below the median
family income; and
(B) 50 percent of Native Hawaiians who either
reside or who are eligible to reside on the Hawaiian
Home Lands have incomes below 30 percent of the median
family income; and
(8) \1/3\ of those Native Hawaiians who are eligible to
reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands pay more than 30 percent of
their income for shelter, and \1/2\ of those Native Hawaiians
face overcrowding;
(9) the extraordinarily severe housing needs of Native
Hawaiians demonstrate that Native Hawaiians who either reside
on, or are eligible to reside on, Hawaiian Home Lands have been
denied equal access to Federal low-income housing assistance
programs available to other qualified residents of the United
States, and that a more effective means of addressing their
housing needs must be authorized;
(10) consistent with the recommendations of the National
Commission on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian Housing, and in order to address the continuing
prevalence of extraordinarily severe housing needs among Native
Hawaiians who either reside or are eligible to reside on the
Hawaiian Home Lands, Congress finds it necessary to extend the
Federal low-income housing assistance available to American
Indians and Alaska Natives under the Native American Housing
Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101
et seq.) to those Native Hawaiians;
(11) under the treaty-making power of the United States,
Congress had the authority to confirm a treaty between the
United States and the government that represented the Hawaiian
people, and under clause 3 of section 8 of article I of the
Constitution, the authority of Congress to address matters
affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States includes
the authority to address matters affecting Native Hawaiians;
(12) through treaties, Federal statutes, and rulings of the
Federal courts, the United States has recognized and reaffirmed
that--
(A) the political status of Native Hawaiians is
comparable to that of American Indians and Alaska
Natives; and
(B) the aboriginal, indigenous people of the United
States have--
(i) a continuing right to autonomy in their
internal affairs; and
(ii) an ongoing right of self-determination
and self-governance that has never been
extinguished;
(13) the political relationship between the United States
and the Native Hawaiian people has been recognized and
reaffirmed by the United States as evidenced by the inclusion
of Native Hawaiians in--
(A) the Native American Programs Act of 1974 (42
U.S.C. 2291 et seq.);
(B) the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42
U.S.C. 1996 et seq.);
(C) the National Museum of the American Indian Act
(20 U.S.C. 80q et seq.);
(D) the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.);
(E) the National Historic Preservation Act (16
U.S.C. 470 et seq.);
(F) the Native American Languages Act of 1992 (106
Stat. 3434);
(G) the American Indian, Alaska Native and Native
Hawaiian Culture and Arts Development Act (20 U.S.C.
4401 et seq.);
(H) the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C.
1501 et seq.); and
(I) the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001
et seq.); and
(14) in the area of housing, the United States has
recognized and reaffirmed the political relationship with the
Native Hawaiian people through--
(A) the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission
Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), which set aside
approximately 200,000 acres of public lands that became
known as Hawaiian Home Lands in the Territory of Hawaii
that had been ceded to the United States for
homesteading by Native Hawaiians in order to
rehabilitate a landless and dying people;
(B) the enactment of the Act entitled ``An Act to
provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into
the Union'', approved March 18, 1959 (73 Stat. 4)--
(i) by ceding to the State of Hawaii title
to the public lands formerly held by the United
States, and mandating that those lands be held
in public trust, for the betterment of the
conditions of Native Hawaiians, as that term is
defined in section 801(15) of the Native
American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act of 1996, as added by section
3 of this Act; and
(ii) by transferring what the United States
considered to be a trust responsibility for the
administration of Hawaiian Home Lands to the
State of Hawaii, but retaining the authority to
enforce the trust, including the exclusive
right of the United States to consent to any
actions affecting the lands which comprise the
corpus of the trust and any amendments to the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat.
108 et seq.), enacted by the legislature of the
State of Hawaii affecting the rights of
beneficiaries under the Act;
(C) the authorization of mortgage loans insured by
the Federal Housing Administration for the purchase,
construction, or refinancing of homes on Hawaiian Home
Lands under the Act of June 27, 1934 (commonly referred
to as the ``National Housing Act'' (42 Stat. 1246 et
seq., chapter 847; 12 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.));
(D) authorizing Native Hawaiian representation on
the National Commission on American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian Housing under Public Law
101-235;
(E) the inclusion of Native Hawaiians in the
definition under section 3764 of title 38, United
States Code, applicable to subchapter V of chapter 37
of title 38, United States Code (relating to a housing
loan program for Native American veterans); and
(F) the enactment of the Hawaiian Home Lands
Recovery Act (109 Stat. 357; 48 U.S.C. 491, note prec.)
which establishes a process for the conveyance of
Federal lands to the Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands
that are equivalent in value to lands acquired by the
United States from the Hawaiian Home Lands inventory.
SEC. 3. HOUSING ASSISTANCE.
The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act
of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``TITLE VIII--HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR NATIVE HAWAIIANS
``SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS.
``In this title:
``(1) Department of hawaiian home lands; department.--The
term `Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' or `Department' means
the agency or department of the government of the State of
Hawaii that is responsible for the administration of the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.).
``(2) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
``(3) Elderly families; near-elderly families.--
``(A) In general.--The term `elderly family' or
`near-elderly family' means a family whose head (or his
or her spouse), or whose sole member, is--
``(i) for an elderly family, an elderly
person; or
``(ii) for a near-elderly family, a near-
elderly person.
``(B) Certain families included.--The term `elderly
family' or `near-elderly family' includes--
``(i) 2 or more elderly persons or near-
elderly persons, as the case may be, living
together; and
``(ii) 1 or more persons described in
clause (i) living with 1 or more persons
determined under the housing plan to be
essential to their care or well-being.
``(4) Hawaiian home lands.--The term `Hawaiian Home Lands'
means lands that--
``(A) have the status as Hawaiian home lands under
section 204 of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (42
Stat. 110); or
``(B) are acquired pursuant to that Act.
``(5) Housing area.--The term `housing area' means an area
of Hawaiian Home Lands with respect to which the Department of
Hawaiian Home Lands is authorized to provide assistance for
affordable housing under this Act.
``(6) Housing entity.--The term `housing entity' means the
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
``(7) Housing plan.--The term `housing plan' means a plan
developed by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
``(8) Median income.--The term `median income' means, with
respect to an area that is a Hawaiian housing area, the greater
of--
``(A) the median income for the Hawaiian housing
area, which shall be determined by the Secretary; or
``(B) the median income for the State of Hawaii.
``(9) Native hawaiian.--The term `Native Hawaiian' has the
meaning given the term `Native Hawaiian' in section 201 of the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.).
``SEC. 802. BLOCK GRANTS FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACTIVITIES.
``(a) Grant Authority.--For each fiscal year, the Secretary shall
(to the extent amounts are made available to carry out this title) make
a grant under this title to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to
carry out affordable housing activities for Native Hawaiian families on
or near Hawaiian Home Lands.
``(b) Plan Requirement.--
``(1) In general.--The Secretary may make a grant under
this title to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for a
fiscal year only if--
``(A) the Director has submitted to the Secretary a
housing plan for that fiscal year; and
``(B) the Secretary has determined under section
804 that the housing plan complies with the
requirements of section 803.
``(2) Waiver.--The Secretary may waive the applicability of
the requirements under paragraph (1), in part, if the Secretary
finds that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has not
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