Grandma’s new house comes with Habitat’s assistance

Darleene Kaniho was living in the parlor of her three-bedroom Papakolea home four years ago because it was the only livable place left after the rest of the structure deteriorated to the point that water poured from the roof when it rained and animals crawled through broken windows.

She moved out to a senior home in McCully and the place was empty, but Honolulu Habitat for Humanity is helping her build a new two-bedroom home so she can return to the place where she grew up.

On Saturday morning, Kaniho — so excited she didn’t get any sleep the night before — participated in the groundbreaking of the new home that will be constructed over the next five months by hundreds of volunteers and Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s wonderful,” said the 73-year-old grandmother. “Just to have a home, and your family come together. That’s what it’s about.”

The home at 546 Krauss St. will be the first built by Habitat in more than a year and will include a lanai and carport. The nonprofit has been rebuilding its operations since finishing its last house in December 2014, said Habitat Executive Director Jim Murphy. He said Habitat hopes to build four homes this year.

Murphy said the cost of Kaniho’s home will be about $160,000, mainly for the materials and not including the volunteer labor and in-kind donations.

As part of Kaniho’s partnership with Habitat, she has to perform her own “sweat equity,” which she will do by volunteering with housekeeping tasks during the build days on Saturdays.

“The community is coming out to help build this home and they want to get to know the family and the family wants to show them that they appreciate their time so it’s important for her to be here,” Murphy said. “It’s not about the house, it’s about the community that builds that house.”

With an annual budget of about $1.2 million, Habitat strives to bring together people to build homes, communities and hope, its mission statement says.

Kaniho moved to the Papakolea house at age 8 in 1950 after her parents obtained a 99-year lease through the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which is also partnering in the project.

DHHL used federal grant money to construct a new retaining wall at a cost of about $100,000, stabilizing the land so that Habitat could build the new home. The cost of the wall, paid for through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996, will be forgiven as long as Kaniho does not sell the property before the mortgage is repaid.

DHHL is also providing a zero-percent interest, 20-year mortgage for Kaniho to pay for the home.

Kaniho filed an application with Habitat for help about six years ago after retiring from her job as a record custodian with the state Sheriff Division.

In 2012, she realized she had to leave after firefighters checking on a malfunctioning water heater told her the home was a fire hazard because the warping floorboards were stretching the electrical lines beneath.

“It was really stressful,” Kaniho said about her scramble for options until she found Habitat could help.

“They gave me the hope that they can help me,” she said.