The Office of Hawaiian Affairs convened its annual Hawai’i Island Board of Trustees meeting Thursday at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.
While the first hour entertained introductions and presentations on tapping into geothermal energy, the next action item fleshed out details about the dispersement of $6.1 million in emergency funds to OHA beneficiaries affected by the federal government shutdown.
OHA Interim Administrator Summer Sylva shared more about the immediate need and OHA’s commitment to its people. “These past few weeks, our staff and divisions have come together in ways that have strengthened our own internal capacity and collective sense of kuleana. And what began as a crisis response has evolved into a kākou effort that reflects the best thinking and hard work of our program staff, fiscal and research teams, this board’s leadership, and our external partners who share our values and mission.”
She touted OHA’s ability to move quickly and efficiently, liquidating “carry-over funding”, which catalyzed “a ripple effect” of combining resources and inviting collaboration with other community partners.
The proposal up for deliberation recommended the first of three options, which in the first tranche would provide up to $350 per person (disabled and low-income adults, and kūpuna without child dependents, who receive SNAP benefits but are excluded from the Hawaiʻi Relief Program). Recipients must be part of OHA’s registry program, OHA Board of Trustees Chairperson Kaialiʻi Kahele clarified. According to OHA, 2,746 applications have been received to date.
In addition, second tier relief would provide up to $1,200 per furloughed federal civilian worker earning no more than $72,000 for a single-person household, who is also excluded from the Hawaiʻi Relief Program and can be verified as Native Hawaiian.
Kahele noted that last week, when OHA staff and trustees convened for an emergency meeting, about 3,000 to 5,000 Native Hawaiians were identified as having lost work from the federal government shutdown, which began Oct. 1.
OHA officials stated monies could be deployed as early as Monday, Nov. 10, or 4 days before the state will begin issuing $250 on EBT cards next week. The organization expects to hire a third-party vendor to administer the funds.
Kahele added, “$250 is not enough. $0 is unacceptable. And so, the combination of OHA’s $350 and what the governor’s providing, can help individuals or families at least get through the next few weeks with the hope that the federal government will reopen shortly. … What we are trying to do is move Heaven and Earth to have our proposal moved as quick as possible.”
At-Large Trustee Keliʻi Akina asked how the $6.1 million in funding was sourced, what its original intention was for and what they may be taking from.
Sylva replied, “The surplus budget from FY22, FY23 and FY24 in the core operating budget in the grants category is where these unspent, unencumbered funds were sourced. They were invested in our Native Hawaiian trust fund portfolio and basically we’re withdrawing that amount from our portfolio in order to make liquidity available to fund this disaster relief effort.
Akina replied, “Summer, are you saying these funds were initially set aside to satisfy grant requests?
“Correct, but unencumbered and unspent,” she said.
Akina said, “I just want to point out they were set aside originally to provide things for our Mana i Mauli Ola [strategic] plan of providing long-term housing, health care, education and economic development. So we may, on a philosophical level, be making a choice to meet the short-term need at the cost of some long-term need. And that’s an opportunity cost we really haven’t debated at the board level.”
Sylva responded, “Consistent with our Mana i Mauli Ola strategic priorities, the inability to put food on a table for a family necessarily impacts their long-term sustainability. The inability to make rent necessarily impacts housing implications and health and all of the other holistic support and services that inform out strategic plan and vision.
"And the fact that we haven’t used those funds for that kind of purpose at this moment speaks to the mission, the values and the orientation of the priorities and principles of the trustees that were expressed in FY22 through the present. I see more consistency with the use of the funds in this manner than I do inconsistency."
More discussion was had between the two; however, ultimately, the proposal was approved 5-1, with Akina voting “kanalua,” which means to abstain. He later told Aloha State Daily by email, "I felt that there were too many unanswered questions to give a whole-hearted endorsement to the plan."
In July, the OHA Board of Trustees and staff approved its two-year budget of more than $136 million for 2026 and 2027.
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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
