Let’s Celebrate Faith Action’s 25 Years
Dear Friends,
Faith Action for Community Equity will arrive at a major milestone – and we want you to be a part of this great moment.
This July marks Faith Action’s 25th anniversary. Its beginning was formed when multiple faith communities came together and essentially declared, “We must get to the root causes of injustices—the brokenness — we see in our communities.” This meant mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to be a part of the public decision-making processes that determine who will have a decent home, who will find a job with a living wage, who will receive a quality education, who will live in a healthy life-affirming environment.
Now is the time to celebrate our accomplishments through Faith Action.Â
Volunteers have stepped up to plan this celebration which will come in two parts:
Part I (July/August/Sept 2021): Celebrate by reviewing Faith Action’s inspiring history and accomplishments through videos and webinars. We need expertise to create these products.
Part II (November 2021) : Depending on COVID’s status, celebrate in person with music, video, entertainment, food, and merriment. We need event planners here.
We invite you to join the planning committee or help with a specific part of the celebration. Committee members currently include: Kathy Jaycox, Karen Ginoza, Patrick Zukemura, Deanna Espinas, Sam Domingo, Christy MacPherson, and Kiki Mills. Contact anyone on the committee or e-mail Evie Hao at evyhao@gmail.com if you would like to help in any way.
Housing Opinion Survey Results: What’s next?
Faith Action’s HousingNOW! Task Force asked for your opinions about various housing issues. Your initial responses were immediately compared to the HousingNOW! position on each issue. If you did not initially agree, you were presented with additional information and given a chance to change your response. The task force will be writing a series of six essays to review and expand on the results.
The numerical summary of the 54 final responses to the survey are below:
- 98% of respondents agree housing subsidized by the state should be restricted to Hawaiʻi residents (clarification for those who commented: this is not a term used to imply USA citizenship, therefore, includes our Compact of Free Association [COFA] community)
- 98% of respondents agree housing subsidized by the state should be restricted to people who rent/own only the subsidized home they would live in
- 90% of respondents agree $1,500 per month is an affordable payment for mortgage or rent for a two-bedroom housing unit
- 82% of respondents agree housing subsidized by the state near transit should have limited parking to encourage mass transit use
- 96% of respondents agree 50,000 homes filled into 1,000 acres of existing urban land is better than 10,000 acres of agricultural or conservation land
Our subsequent write-ups should help answer some questions that are outstanding or that may have come up because of this survey, such as:
- How does this affect the housing advocacy goals of Faith Action?
- What are the different kinds of government subsidies for housing?
- What does it even mean to be a “state resident”?
- What is the definition of “affordable”?
- What makes transportation and housing interrelated?
- How much new housing do we need to build?
- Where should new housing be built?
- What is the relationship between housing density and affordability?
The task force will expand on these questions and explain the direction we believe fits the values of the Faith Action membership based on your responses, and more importantly, the direction that best meets the needs of the low-income people we advocate for and are called to serve because of those values.
The task force will be asking the general membership to participate in testimony and advocate for actions based on the opinions provided by this survey. The series of essays you will see from the HousingNOW! Task Force will be important for equipping you with the breadth and depth of knowledge that you can use in your advocacy and testimony.