Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 10, 1 October 2004 — 'Historic' land transfer to add 3,500 new Hawaiian Homes [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

'Historic' land transfer to add 3,500 new Hawaiian Homes

By Sterling Kini Wong As part of its largest effort ever to put native Hawaiians on homestead land, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has announced a transfer of properties from other state departments that will be used to develop nearly 3,500 homes for native Hawaiians over the next seven years. Most of the homes will be developed as affordable housing for Hawaiians of at least 50 percent blood

quantum who earn less than 80 percent of the state's median ineome. The state's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) and Housing Community Development Corp. of Hawai'i (HCDCH) have handed over to DHHL four properties on O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i island, totaling 1,800 acres. Three of the properties have long been slated for state affordablehousing developments, but the projects were stalled by legal issues and laek of funds. Those properties

include portions of the Villages of La'i'ōpua in Kona (2,700 homes), the Villages of Lei'ali'i near Lahaina (304 homes) and Village 8 in Kapolei (326 homes). In addition, DHHL will take over management of existing residential and agricultural leases on 750 acres in Waiāhole Valley on O'ahu. Mieah Kāne, chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission and director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, said the "historic" transfer will be remembered as an important milestone in DHHL's history. "This was a major breakthrough because of the size of the land transfer, the number of agencies working together and the overall potential to have such a positive impact on the lives of so many people," he said. Because the transfer involves See DHHL on page 6

DHHL from page 1

properties with infrastructure already in plaee, groundbreaking for the first homes could start in early 2005, with leases being awarded in late 2005 to early 2006. Kāne said that the project is part of DHHL's new focus on building planned communities. "We are moving ahead on properties that have been stagnant for years," he said. "We will create eeonomie opportunity with construction, provide homes for people who normally would not have that opportunity, fulfill our commitment to native Hawaiians and build communities that will impact the lives of generations to eome." Kāne added that the project will relieve pressure on the affordable housing market in general, with existing units opening up as families move into the new developments. The housing developments represent an attempt by DHHL to "elean up" the 12,000 native Hawaiians who remain on the department's waiting list for residential homes. In the next five years, he said, DHHL hopes to award 6,000 new leases through various projects. That would almost double the 7,200 leases that have been awarded in the 84 years since the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was passed in 1920. Under the transfer agreement, DHHL will pay

$33 million over 15 years to reimburse HCDCH for some of the cost of the infrastructure already put in plaee at Lei'ali'i, La'i'ōpua and Kapolei. Kāne said that the reimbursement does not, however, cover the total cost HCDCH invested in the properties. HCDCH executive director Stephanie Aveiro said that the partnership would provide affordable housing in Hawai'i, whieh fulfills HCDCH's mission. "We had the ehoiee of waiting another 10 years and doing nothing, or we could move and work in partnership and have these projects," she said.

Kāne said that HCDCH insisted during negotiations that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs had to first approve the land transaction because two of the developments - La'i'ōpua and Lei'ali'i - are on ceded lands. In 1994, OHA filed a lawsuit to hloek the state from selling ceded lands to private developers because the agency believed the transactions would prevent the lands from benefiting Hawaiians. The lawsuit, whieh is pending in the Hawai'i Supreme Court, was the reason development was halted at La'i'ōpua and Lei'ali'i. OHA Chairperson Haunani Apoliona said that the board approved the current transfer because providing affordable housing for native Hawaiians is consistent with "the direct purpose that the lawsuit has been designed to achieve, namely to protect these lands for Hawaiians." "We believe that this opportunity to partner with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and the state of Hawai'i provides a ehanee for our beneficiaries, native Hawaiians, to own a home, stabilize their family and grow up in a healthy and safe planned community," she said. Apoliona said that OHA's approval of the transfer will not end its appeal to the state's high court, because issues raised in the lawsuit must still be resolved. ■

DHHL Director Mieah Kane at the press conference announcing the land transfer. Photo: Derek Ferrar