Hawaii Island Ohan A Case Study

This asset policy roadmap was formulated to mitigate the challenges facing the Hawaii Island Ohana such as the limited earning opportunities in the county, difficulties in building assets, and low economic performance facing the Hawaii islands. Asset building is defined as “a process that encourages people to accumulate, develop, and preserve all kinds of assets such as financial knowledge, access to credit, savings, investment, human and social assets” (County of Hawaii_ R&D, 2011).
The roadmap identified six comprehensive goals to help families move from just getting by to getting ahead for themselves and future generations. This includes:
1. Make work pay
• Encourage people to reduce dependent on welfare and start working
• Some policy
• Policy components include:
• Maximize financial education for youth
• Encourage partnership between financial institutions and schools
• Create public awareness of financial education
• Integrate financial education into the Department of Human Service programs
• Encourage financial education in the workplace (private/public)
3. Breakdown barriers to asset building
• Compress those unethical lending practices, market failures, lack of insurance, and disincentives in public policies that become barriers in asset building.
• Policy components:
• Reduce or eliminate work and savings disincentives (asset test) in public welfare programs
• Adopt the federal anti-predatory mortgage lending standards that will prevent lending institution’s excessive fees, equity strippings, risk-rate disparities, and excess foreclosures.
• Enact State Auditor’s recommendations on payday lending into law
• Free up trapped equity on Hawaiian Home Lands to encourage homeowners to borrow and make additional investment against their home equity.
• Ensure health coverage for all that could minimized medical bills.
4. Help people to