Tiny home for kūpuna blessed on Nāʻiwa Homestead

More than 20 years after he moved onto his homestead land on Moloka‘i, Woodrow Poepoe has a home to live in, complete with electric lights and running water. Born and raised on Moloka‘i, “Uncle Blue” got a lease from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) at Nāʻiwa Homestead in 1986 and immediately moved onto his five rural acres. Now in his seventies, he has made do camping and getting along without access to infrastructure.

On Sept. 15, Uncle Blue received a new Tiny Home, with a blessing ceremony conducted by Nāhulu Maioho and attended by ‘ohana, friends and representatives from several agencies who worked toward the goal alongside him. The joyful resolution was a collaborative effort between Nāʻiwa Agricultural Subdivision Alliance (NASA), Hawaiʻi Community Lending (HCL), Hawaiian Community Assets (HCA), Operation Tiny Home, Moloka‘i Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), Honsador Lumber, Matson, Young Brothers, Nareit Hawai‘i, Women’s Fund of Hawai‘i, and Re-use Hawai‘i, along with energy partners Sun Farmers, J.O.B. Technologies and T&T Energy Solutions. 

Uncle Blue’s 30 foot Tiny Home is on tires and is ADA-accessible. It has a bathroom with composting toilet, shower and vanity; kitchen with energy fridge, hot plate and microwave; and space to sleep and store clothes; as well as room for a caregiver. 

“Operation Tiny Home is deeply honored to partner with the Moloka‘i Affordable Housing Alliance in their vital work to provide safe, dignified housing for kūpuna such as Uncle Blue,” said Gabrielle Rapport, executive director of Operation Tiny Home. “This initiative is a testament to the incredible efforts of MAHA to create small-footprint homes that offer comfort, cleanliness and the ability to age in place with dignity. Uncle Blue and others deserve to live respectfully, surrounded by family and community care. We are truly grateful for the opportunity to support Liliana Napoleon and her team in this meaningful work that is making a lasting impact on the lives of the Moloka‘i community.”

Napoleon, Nāʻiwa Homestead advocate, has worked on the project with partners for the past two and a half years. “We are so happy for Uncle Blue as the first kūpuna in Nāʻiwa to transition into a Tiny Home,” she said. “We hope other kūpuna and displaced Nāʻiwa families may be able to transition into Tiny Homes on the Nāʻiwa Homestead in the future. And we encourage all lessees to take advantage of the opportunities available to them to access financial counseling, financial products, home owner builder guidance, and agricultural site development opportunities for their lots.” 

Nāʻiwa homesteaders and their families are encouraged to join the Nāʻiwa Homesteaders Program, which features monthly Homeowner Builder workshops, both in-person and online. These workshops guide lessees toward homeownership with training in credit preparedness, budgeting, and saving services offered through HCA along with financial assessments and mortgage topics through HCL.

In addition, lessees can learn agricultural farming techniques through UH-CTAHR in preparation to cultivate 2/3 of their lots with food consumption produce in a way that is sustainable for their ‘ohana. To support this goal of agricultural homesteading, DHHL has plans to begin improving the area’s infrastructure with access to potable and agricultural water, electricity and paved roadways. The improvements will occur at 58 lots on approximately 340 acres. 

Napoleon says that Nāʻiwa lessees who are engaged and enrolled in the Homesteaders Program have made progress in lot clearing and agricultural farming techniques, as well as off-grid renewable energy insight and system installation.

Todd Yamashita of Sun Farmers points out that the price of electricity is the same no matter your age. “But our kūpuna have fixed income, and as fossil fuel prices continue to rise, they can often be hit the hardest,” Yamashita says. “Renewable energy allows us to remove the energy burden and fossil fuel footprint, and replace it with resilience and sustainability. If there is anything we can do, the gift of energy justice can help our kūpuna live longer, healthier and more dignified lives. Now that is something worth building for!”

            Future Nāʻiwa Homeowner Builder workshops are scheduled on Mondays at 6 p.m. In-person meetings will be held at the OHA/DHHL Kulana ʻŌiwi conference room located at 600 Mauna Loa Hwy. in Kaunakakai. For more information and to find out more about virtual meetings, call 808-809-4426.

• Monday, Oct. 21, 6 p.m. – virtual meeting
• Monday, Nov. 18, 6 p.m. – virtual meeting
• Monday, Dec. 16, 6 p.m. – in-person meeting

All Nāʻiwa lessees may join the Nāʻiwa Homesteaders Program and Agricultural Site Development Initiative by simply emailing NASA at mkk.nas.alliance@gmail.com.