New mortgage broker
aims at Hawaiians

The company targets native
islanders and low-income clients

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By Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.com

A new local mortgage brokerage company that will focus on lending to Hawaiians and those with low to moderate incomes has opened its doors in downtown Honolulu.

Hawaii Community Lending was created to provide home loans to buy, renovate or refinance both on Hawaiian Home Lands and in the community at large, said Carl Cunningham, managing director.

"This is the exciting realization of many years of planning and hard work, and welcome news for our local residents who can finally visualize owning their homes," he said.

Cunningham said this company is unique in its holistic approach to homeownership compared with traditional mortgage institutions. For example, while most lenders focus on the 80 percent of the general market who qualify for a traditional mortgage, Hawaii Community Lending focuses on the other 20 percent, thereby filling the gaps in services and programs.

A key aspect of the company is an education division geared toward homeownership that reflects Hawaiian culture and values. Already, the company has been working with families in the Waiohuli Homestead Association on Maui on their plans to build on unimproved lots.

Winona Kauhane, the company's community lending officer who has helped to secure mortgages for those on Hawaiian Home Lands, said the application process is comfortable, supportive and not intimidating.

"No one is ever turned away," Kauhane said. "We don't say no, we say how."

Although based in Honolulu, the company's services are available statewide. Another office is expected to open later this month in Wailuku.

The company, whose investors include local and mainland banks and companies, is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Community Assets Inc., a Maui-based grass-roots effort to help Hawaiians and low-income communities achieve economic self-sufficiency. HCA is also working on a preliminary charter for Bank Aloha, a proposed native Hawaiian bank that will focus on commercial lending.