[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 25USC4221]
TITLE 25--INDIANS
CHAPTER 43--NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND SELF-DETERMINATION
SUBCHAPTER VIII--HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR NATIVE HAWAIIANS
Sec. 4221. Definitions
In this subchapter:
(1) Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; Department
The term ``Department of Hawaiian Home Lands'' or ``Department''
means the agency or department of the government of the State of
Hawaii that is responsible for the administration of the Hawaiian
Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.).
(2) Director
The term ``Director'' means the Director of the Department of
Hawaiian Home Lands.
(3) Elderly families; near-elderly families
(A) In general
The term ``elderly family'' or ``near-elderly family'' means
a family whose head (or his or her spouse), or whose sole
member, is--
(i) for an elderly family, an elderly person; or
(ii) for a near-elderly family, a near-elderly person.
(B) Certain families included
The term ``elderly family'' or ``near-elderly family''
includes--
(i) two or more elderly persons or near-elderly persons,
as the case may be, living together; and
(ii) one or more persons described in clause (i) living
with one or more persons determined under the housing plan
to be essential to their care or well-being.
(4) Hawaiian Home Lands
The term ``Hawaiian Home Lands'' means lands that--
(A) have the status as Hawaiian home lands under section 204
of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 110); or
(B) are acquired pursuant to that Act.
(5) Housing area
The term ``housing area'' means an area of Hawaiian Home Lands
with respect to which the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is
authorized to provide assistance for affordable housing under this
chapter.
(6) Housing entity
The term ``housing entity'' means the Department of Hawaiian
Home Lands.
(7) Housing plan
The term ``housing plan'' means a plan developed by the
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.
(8) Median income
The term ``median income'' means, with respect to an area that
is a Hawaiian housing area, the greater of--
(A) the median income for the Hawaiian housing area, which
shall be determined by the Secretary; or
(B) the median income for the State of Hawaii.
(9) Native Hawaiian
The term ``Native Hawaiian'' means any individual who is--
(A) a citizen of the United States; and
(B) a descendant of the aboriginal people, who, prior to
1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the area that
currently constitutes the State of Hawaii, as evidenced by--
(i) genealogical records;
(ii) verification by kupuna (elders) or kama`aina (long-
term community residents); or
(iii) birth records of the State of Hawaii.
(Pub. L. 104-330, title VIII, Sec. 801, as added Pub. L. 106-568, title
II, Sec. 203, Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 2876, and Pub. L. 106-569, title
V, Sec. 513, Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 2969.)
References in Text
The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, referred to in pars. (1)
and (4)(B), is act July 9, 1921, ch. 42, 42 Stat. 108, as amended, which
was classified generally to sections 691 to 718 of Title 48, Territories
and Insular Possessions, and was omitted from the Code.
This chapter, referred to in par. (5), was in the original ``this
Act'', meaning Pub. L. 104-330, Oct. 26, 1996, 110 Stat. 4016, as
amended, known as the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-
Determination Act of 1996. For complete classification of this Act to
the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 4101 of this title
and Tables.
Codification
Pub. L. 106-568, Sec. 203, and Pub. L. 106-569, Sec. 513, enacted
substantially identical sections 801 of Pub. L. 104-330. This section is
based on the text of section 801 of Pub. L. 104-330, as added by Pub. L.
106-569, Sec. 513.
Effective Date
Pub. L. 104-330, title VIII, Sec. 808, as added by Pub. L. 106-569,
title V, Sec. 513, Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 2979, provided that:
``Except as otherwise expressly provided in this title [enacting this
subchapter], this title shall take effect on the date of the enactment
of the American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act of 2000 [Pub.
L. 106-569, approved Dec. 27, 2000].''
Pub. L. 104-330, title VIII, Sec. 808, as added by Pub. L. 106-568,
title II, Sec. 203, Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 2885, provided that:
``Except as otherwise expressly provided in this title [enacting this
subchapter], this title shall take effect on the date of the enactment
of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination
Amendments of 2000 [probably should be the Hawaiian Homelands Ownership
Act of 2000, title II of Pub. L. 106-568, approved Dec. 27, 2000].''
Findings
Pub. L. 106-569, title V, Sec. 512, Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 2966,
provided that: ``The Congress finds that--
``(1) the United States has undertaken a responsibility to
promote the general welfare of the United States by--
``(A) employing its resources to remedy the unsafe and
unsanitary housing conditions and the acute shortage of decent,
safe, and sanitary dwellings for families of lower income; and
``(B) developing effective partnerships with governmental
and private entities to accomplish the objectives referred to in
subparagraph (A);
``(2) the United States has a special responsibility for the
welfare of the Native peoples of the United States, including Native
Hawaiians;
``(3) pursuant to the provisions of the Hawaiian Homes
Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.) [former 48 U.S.C. 691 et
seq.], the United States set aside 200,000 acres of land in the
Federal territory that later became the State of Hawaii in order to
establish a homeland for the native people of Hawaii--Native
Hawaiians;
``(4) despite the intent of Congress in 1920 to address the
housing needs of Native Hawaiians through the enactment of the
Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), Native
Hawaiians eligible to reside on the Hawaiian home lands have been
foreclosed from participating in Federal housing assistance programs
available to all other eligible families in the United States;
``(5) although Federal housing assistance programs have been
administered on a racially neutral basis in the State of Hawaii,
Native Hawaiians continue to have the greatest unmet need for
housing and the highest rates of overcrowding in the United States;
``(6) among the Native American population of the United States,
Native Hawaiians experience the highest percentage of housing
problems in the United States, as the percentage--
``(A) of housing problems in the Native Hawaiian population
is 49 percent, as compared to--
``(i) 44 percent for American Indian and Alaska Native
households in Indian country; and
``(ii) 27 percent for all other households in the United
States; and
``(B) overcrowding in the Native Hawaiian population is 36
percent as compared to 3 percent for all other households in the
United States;
``(7) among the Native Hawaiian population, the needs of Native
Hawaiians, as that term is defined in section 801 of the Native
American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 [25
U.S.C. 4221] (as added by this subtitle), eligible to reside on the
Hawaiian Home Lands are the most severe, as--
``(A) the percentage of overcrowding in Native Hawaiian
households on the Hawaiian Home Lands is 36 percent; and
``(B) approximately 13,000 Native Hawaiians, which
constitute 95 percent of the Native Hawaiians who are eligible
to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands, are in need of housing;
``(8) applying the Department of Housing and Urban Development
guidelines--
``(A) 70.8 percent of Native Hawaiians who either reside or
who are eligible to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands have
incomes that fall below the median family income; and
``(B) 50 percent of Native Hawaiians who either reside or
who are eligible to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands have
incomes below 30 percent of the median family income;
``(9) one-third of those Native Hawaiians who are eligible to
reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands pay more than 30 percent of their
income for shelter, and one-half of those Native Hawaiians face
overcrowding;
``(10) the extraordinarily severe housing needs of Native
Hawaiians demonstrate that Native Hawaiians who either reside on, or
are eligible to reside on, Hawaiian Home Lands have been denied
equal access to Federal low-income housing assistance programs
available to other qualified residents of the United States, and
that a more effective means of addressing their housing needs must
be authorized;
``(11) consistent with the recommendations of the National
Commission on American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
Housing, and in order to address the continuing prevalence of
extraordinarily severe housing needs among Native Hawaiians who
either reside or are eligible to reside on the Hawaiian Home Lands,
Congress finds it necessary to extend the Federal low-income housing
assistance available to American Indians and Alaska Natives under
the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of
1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.) to those Native Hawaiians;
``(12) under the treatymaking power of the United States,
Congress had the constitutional authority to confirm a treaty
between the United States and the government that represented the
Hawaiian people, and from 1826 until 1893, the United States
recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, extended full
diplomatic recognition to the Hawaiian Government, and entered into
treaties and conventions with the Hawaiian monarchs to govern
commerce and navigation in 1826, 1842, 1849, 1875, and 1887;
``(13) the United States has recognized and reaffirmed that--
``(A) Native Hawaiians have a cultural, historic, and land-
based link to the indigenous people who exercised sovereignty
over the Hawaiian Islands, and that group has never relinquished
its claims to sovereignty or its sovereign lands;
``(B) Congress does not extend services to Native Hawaiians
because of their race, but because of their unique status as the
indigenous people of a once sovereign nation as to whom the
United States has established a trust relationship;
``(C) Congress has also delegated broad authority to
administer a portion of the Federal trust responsibility to the
State of Hawaii;
``(D) the political status of Native Hawaiians is comparable
to that of American Indians and Alaska Natives; and
``(E) the aboriginal, indigenous people of the United States
have--
``(i) a continuing right to autonomy in their internal
affairs; and
``(ii) an ongoing right of self-determination and self-
governance that has never been extinguished;
``(14) the political relationship between the United States and
the Native Hawaiian people has been recognized and reaffirmed by the
United States as evidenced by the inclusion of Native Hawaiians in--
``(A) the Native American Programs Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C.
2291 [2991] et seq.);
``(B) the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C.
1996 et seq.);
``(C) the National Museum of the American Indian Act (20
U.S.C. 80q et seq.);
``(D) the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act (25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.);
``(E) the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470
et seq.);
``(F) the Native American Languages Act of 1992 (106 Stat.
3434 [Pub. L. 102-524, see Short Title of 1992 Amendment note
set out under section 2991 of Title 42, The Public Health and
Welfare]);
``(G) the American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian
Culture and Arts [Art] Development Act (20 U.S.C. 4401 et seq.);
``(H) the Job Training Partnership Act ([former] 29 U.S.C.
1501 et seq.); and
``(I) the Older Americans Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et
seq.); and
``(15) in the area of housing, the United States has recognized
and reaffirmed the political relationship with the Native Hawaiian
people through--
``(A) the enactment of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act,
1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), which set aside approximately
200,000 acres of public lands that became known as Hawaiian Home
Lands in the Territory of Hawaii that had been ceded to the
United States for homesteading by Native Hawaiians in order to
rehabilitate a landless and dying people;
``(B) the enactment of the Act entitled `An Act to provide
for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union',
approved March 18, 1959 (73 Stat. 4) [Pub. L. 86-3, 48 U.S.C.
note prec. 491]--
``(i) by ceding to the State of Hawaii title to the
public lands formerly held by the United States, and
mandating that those lands be held in public trust, for the
betterment of the conditions of Native Hawaiians, as that
term is defined in section 201 of the Hawaiian Homes
Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.); and
``(ii) by transferring the United States responsibility
for the administration of Hawaiian Home Lands to the State
of Hawaii, but retaining the authority to enforce the trust,
including the exclusive right of the United States to
consent to any actions affecting the lands which comprise
the corpus of the trust and any amendments to the Hawaiian
Homes Commission Act, 1920 (42 Stat. 108 et seq.), enacted
by the legislature of the State of Hawaii affecting the
rights of beneficiaries under the Act;
``(C) the authorization of mortgage loans insured by the
Federal Housing Administration for the purchase, construction,
or refinancing of homes on Hawaiian Home Lands under the
National Housing Act (Public Law 479; 73d Congress; 12 U.S.C.
1701 et seq.);
``(D) authorizing Native Hawaiian representation on the
National Commission on American Indian, Alaska Native, and
Native Hawaiian Housing under Public Law 101-235 [see Tables for
classification];
``(E) the inclusion of Native Hawaiians in the definition
under section 3764 of title 38, United States Code, applicable
to subchapter V of chapter 37 of title 38, United States Code
(relating to a ho
