OHA Board to decide on emergency relief payments for Native Hawaiians amid government shutdown

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) Board of Trustees will consider three options Thursday when it meets in Hilo to decide on a relief program to distribute more than $6.1 million in emergency funding to Native Hawaiian beneficiaries impacted by the federal government shutdown and delayed or reduced SNAP benefit assistance.

OHA staff announced it will recommend that the board approve a program providing up to $350 per person to verified Native Hawaiian households without child dependents. This beneficiary group may include kūpuna, disabled adults and low-income adults who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits but are excluded from the state’s Hawaiʻi Relief Program (TANF Support for Housing and Utility Payments) or are awaiting state or federal payments that would otherwise help stabilize their household budgets.

Additionally, OHA staff will be recommending that OHA Trustees approve a second-tier of relief providing up to $1,200 per person in to verified Native Hawaiian furloughed federal civilian workers earning no more than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level (approximately $72,000 for a single-person household) who are experiencing a pay interruption and are also excluded from the Hawaiʻi Relief Program.

“We are addressing the needs of some of our most vulnerable beneficiaries,” said OHA Board of Trustees Chairperson Kaialiʻi Kahele. “We look forward to approving this relief program and getting these emergency funds to our beneficiaries just as soon as possible.”

OHA estimates nearly 14,000 Native Hawaiian beneficiaries may qualify for the $350 direct payment to help meet food costs. Another 1,000 beneficiaries who are furloughed federal workers could be eligible for the $1,200 relief payments.

“This targeted approach reflects our responsibility to deploy trust resources with intention and equity, avoiding duplication with existing state relief measures,” said OHA Interim Administrator Summer Sylva. “By filling the gaps left by other programs, we are ensuring kōkua reaches those who might otherwise be left waiting — our kūpuna, working families and Native Hawaiian federal employees caught in hardship through no fault of their own.”

The board will take up this item when it meets at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Ka Haka ‘Ula O Ke’elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.