New Program to Help Hawaiʻi Educators Buy Homes May 2, 2019, 12:49 PM HST · Updated May 2, 12:52 PM
The Hawai’i Executive Conference announced a partnership with Landed, a down payment assistance and homebuyer education program aimed at helping teachers and school employees afford to buy homes, to bring new homeownership options to K-12 educators across Hawai’i. The program provides half of the down payment on a home, up to $120,000 per family, in exchange for a portion of the change in the value of the home when the home is sold. Any gains from this assistance will be re-invested to support an ever-growing number of educators. Landed’s down payment support will be available to all teachers, administrators and staff who have worked for a Hawaiʻi public school for at least two years. “As the cost of housing in Hawai’i continues to rise, too many of our educators are finding it harder to afford homes and we have to find a way to allow them to live in the communities that they serve,” said Duane Kurisu, chairman of the Hawai’i Executive Conference and aio founder. “Challenges like these can only be tackled together and we’re privileged that leaders from HEC have collaborated to help our educators.” The partnership is a result of leaders from the Hawai’i Executive Conference adopting Hawai’i Community Foundation’s CHANGE Framework, committing to collaborate to help address some of Hawai’i’s most pressing issues. “We need to explore innovative solutions to address our housing crisis for educators and others,” said Jack Wong, co-chair of HEC’s CHANGE Education Committee and CEO of Kamehameha Schools. “HCF’s CHANGE Framework is giving the HEC committees the opportunity to look beyond our respective leadership roles. We’re coming together to create a shared vision for Hawai’i so that our people and place have the opportunity to thrive for generations to come.” “It is exciting to see leaders across the state coming together to work with the Department on enhancing our recruitment and retention efforts by providing these types of resources. It is a testament to what can be done when businesses rally around our students and educators and offer solutions. I look forward to continuing to explore these types of opportunities with partners like the Hawai’i Executive Conference,” said Dr. Christina Kishimoto, Superintendent of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education.