The roof leaks in one of the three bedrooms of Symphonie Kaai's family home in Nanakuli, rendering that section of the house useless.

Kaai, a 29-year-old community health worker, is primary breadwinner in a family of seven that cannot afford badly needed repairs.

But last year, Kaai attended home improvement classes offered by the Nanakuli Housing Corp., which is dedicated to helping Native Hawaiians gain and maintain home ownership. The nonprofit also provided the family with a new water heater and, later, volunteers who went to the home to install window screens.

Nanakuli Housing is now looking into whether Kaai's family can qualify to purchase a fixer-upper that can be moved onto their homestead.

"If it wasn't for the Nanakuli Housing Corp., I wouldn't know how to take the first steps," said Kaai, a single mother of a 7-year-old.

Both supporters and opponents of Native Hawaiian programs could point to Nanakuli Housing to argue their cases.

H. William Burgess of the group Aloha For All, which has mounted legal challenges against Hawaiian funding, said such programs should be open to all, Hawaiian or not.

"As far as funding is concerned, I think it could continue from the federal government to the state — based on the needs of needy citizens, whatever their race," Burgess said.

Kapi'olani Barber, executive director of Nanakuli Housing, countered that the statistics are clear that Hawaiians still need the extra help. "It's very sad — the majority of people in prison are Native Hawaiians, the most impoverished, demographically, are Native Hawaiians. And as the host culture, it just shouldn't be that way."

The debate is inextricably linked to federal recognition and the proposed Native Hawaiian Recognition Act, which suffered a blow earlier this month when the U.S. Senate decided against hearing it. The bill proposes establishing a process that would lead to federal recognition of a Native Hawaiian government and, supporters believe, shield programs aimed at helping Hawaiians.

NEW LEGISLATION

Over the last 26 years, more than $1.2 billion in federal funds have been distributed to hundreds of Hawaiian programs, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who is largely credited for steering the money to Hawai'i.

Inouye last week announced he will introduce legislation designed specifically to shield the Hawaiian programs without addressing the explosive issue of federal recognition. Opponents of the programs have vowed to continue the fight.

Larger Hawaiian initiatives range from the Native Hawaiian Education Council to Papa Ola Lokahi, which helps with a variety of health programs from clinics to classes.

Hardy Spoehr, executive director for Papa Ola Lokahi, said proposed legislation such as that being drafted by Inouye would go a long way to helping ensure funding for Hawaiian health programs.

"We're already funded for this coming year, but who knows what's going to happen a year from now?" Spoehr said.

Colin Kippen, executive director of the education council, estimates Native Hawaiian education programs receive about $34 million annually from the federal government to help students from the preschool to post-graduate levels.

"If the goal is to move the Hawaiian community forward and to assure proportionality and equity in terms of their representation in all fields ... education is really the way to make that happen," Kippen said.

In addition to federal funding, millions more come from state coffers. Aloha For All estimates that since 1990, the state has earmarked $1 billion for Hawaiian programs. Burgess leads an ongoing legal challenge of that funding in a case that the U.S. Supreme Court last week sent back to a lower court, suggesting it take a look at a separate case in which it determined that paying taxes alone is not enough to provide a group with the legal standing needed to challenge state funding.

In the U.S. Supreme Court's 2000 decision in a case known as Rice v. Cayetano, however, the court ruled unconstitutional the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs' requirement that voters for its trustees must have Hawaiian blood.

Jade Danner, vice president of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, said she's nearly certain there will be more challenges to Hawaiian programs.

"The absence of a formal relationship with the United States makes defending those programs more difficult," Danner said.

Danner pointed out that the programs are successful, noting that the number of Hawaiian speakers rose from about 500 to about 9,000 in the 18 years since the inception of Punana Leo, the Hawaiian immersion school, and other Hawaiian language initiatives.

She maintains that many of the programs are not Hawaiians-only, and those that are could ultimately benefit all state residents. "If they're paying for some resources with Hawaiian money, that leaves other money to serve other needs more widely," Danner said.

ENTITLEMENT OR JUSTICE?

Richard Rowland, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said his group opposes special treatment of any group, including Hawaiians-only programs. Rowland said such efforts would perpetuate a counter-productive "dependent mentality" in any group singled out for funding.

The ongoing funding debate is an emotional one, pitting the plight of Native Hawaiians, whom many feel were wronged when the monarchy was overthrown in 1893, against America's constitutional ideal that everyone should get equal treatment.

'Ehu Cardwell of the pro-independence Koani Foundation, opposes the Native Hawaiian Recognition Act — dubbed the Akaka bill for its sponsor, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.

His group, which contends the bill does not go far enough in addressing wrongs that began with annexation, nevertheless believes Hawaiian programs funded by the federal and state governments are important.

"As an occupying power, that's the least the U.S. can do for Native Hawaiians," he said.

While Nanakuli Housing is a mid-sized Hawaiian program, 'Ahahui O Hawai'i is among the smaller programs.

The student organization at the University of Hawai'i William S. Richardson School of Law offers law school examination preparation and tutoring classes for potential lawyers of Native Hawaiian ancestry and receives funding from OHA.

Joni Domingues was recently among the students taking part in a law school exam preparation class offered by 'Ahahui O Hawai'i. The smaller classes helped her get a better grasp on what she needed to learn, she said.

Domingues said while she understands why some non-Hawaiians are challenging the constitutional issues ties to funding Hawaiian programs, she said the targeted funding is justified.

"This is Hawai'i, these are our ancestral lands," Domingues said. "I don't think it's unfair we get special treatment or entitlements."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.