CDFI Support for Hawaiian Ohanas Helps Families Threatened by COVID-19
Hawaiian culture places major emphasis on the importance of family or “ohana,” which is an extended family unit that includes multigenerational family members living together as one unit.
Because COVID-19 is highly contagious and poses an especially lethal threat to the elderly and persons affected with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, obesity, cancer and other illnesses, the extended family unit places vulnerable family members at greater risk of contracting the virus.
Ohana units are simple to build and inexpensive with a cost between $2,500 and $7,500. Their smaller size and limited facilities translates into faster construction times and allows families to quickly implement social distancing or quarantine protocols. Over a nine-month period, from 2020 into 2021, HCDC provided over $102,000 in financing to construct roughly 20
ohana units.