When Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole began serving as a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1903, the Hawaiian nation was in peril. Queen Liliʻuokalani had been deposed, the population was declining, the Hawaiian language and culture were fading, and Hawaiian land was being seized and controlled by foreigners.

Often called Ke Aliʻi Makaʻāinana (The People’s Prince), Kūhiō was beloved for his efforts to support and empower the Hawaiian people. He believed that with land, Hawaiians could achieve economic self-sufficiency, preserve their culture, and ultimately rebuild the lāhui. To that end, he championed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act (HHCA), which Congress passed and President Warren Harding signed into law in 1921.

The HHCA set aside some 200,000 acres throughout Hawaiʻi where individuals with at least 50% Hawaiian blood could live, farm and ranch. It guaranteed that those lands would be held in trust for their and their heirs’ use in perpetuity, and the annual fee for 99-year leases would be just $1. When Hawaiʻi became a state in 1959, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) was established to administer these trust lands.

Patti Tancayo’s great-grandfather received a Hawaiian Home Lands lease for a 40-acre homestead in Hoʻolehua, Molokaʻi, in the early 1930s. When he died in 1969, her father inherited it. She considers it a blessing to have grown up there, so she could experience firsthand how a house is more than shelter; it is the foundation for familial, cultural and economic stability.

“The Hawaiian values I learned being raised on the homestead weren’t just taught, they were lived,” Tancayo said. “When I visited my cousin’s house, he didn’t just let me play with his toys, he gave me his best ones. When guests stayed with us, my parents offered their bedroom to them. Giving from the heart without hesitation was our way of life.”

Tancayo also recalled the many large gatherings at her ʻohana’s homestead weren’t only about good food. Family and friends hunted, fished and cooked for those parties side by side. It was laulima, many hands working as one. “That sense of togetherness – of knowing you were part of something greater than yourself – made it special,” she said. “No one was just an observer; we all contributed.”

Aloha, laulima and ʻohana, she asserts, lie at the heart of the HHCA. “Prince Kūhiō knew it was not just about land; it was about restoring Hawaiian traditions, strengthening family ties and ensuring future generations always have a place to call home,” Tancayo said. “The homesteads were where Hawaiian values – among them, respect, generosity and aloha ʻāina – could endure.”

Inspired by the legacy of Prince Kūhiō and her happy, close-knit upbringing, Tancayo founded Kalanianaʻole Development in 2023 to create innovative, culturally rooted, financially attainable housing solutions for Hawaiian families, especially those with the most need.

The company’s philosophy is based on the HHCA’s core principles: self-determination, economic development, cultural preservation and homesteading. As president and chief executive officer, Tancayo makes certain those concepts guide Kalanianaʻole Development’s approach to every project.

She has more than 35 years of experience in affordable housing development. Her team of experts in construction, finance, law and large-scale development includes board chairman Nan Chul Shin, founder of Nan, Inc., Hawaiʻi’s largest locally owned and operated construction firm. In 2023, Shin acquired Grace Pacific, one of the state’s largest asphalt paving contractors.

“We are actively pursuing DHHL commercial, industrial, infrastructure and residential contracts, all of which are critical to building vibrant Hawaiian communities,” Tancayo said. “I bring a unique perspective to the table because I grew up on a Hawaiian Home Lands homestead. Like thousands of other Hawaiians, I have waited years to obtain one myself, and I understand the challenges and frustrations that come with that process.”

This is why she is leading several transformative housing projects, including work at the Villages of Laʻiʻōpua, a 980-acre master-planned community in Kealakehe, on Hawaiʻi Island’s west side.

DHHL has been developing five villages on 572 of those acres; the first, Village 3, was completed in 2000. Villages 4, ʻĀkau (Phase 1) and 5 are partially completed. Kalanianaʻole Development was awarded the contract for a water system, infrastructure, and turn-key and rent-to-own houses for 400 lots in Villages 1 and 2, which will start coming to fruition in 2027. It will also be constructing 125 homes in Village 4, Hema (Phase 2); completion of that is targeted for 2027.

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In addition, the company is developing affordable housing at Pālamanui, a 725-acre master-planned, mixed-use community in nearby Kailua-Kona. Anticipated to be completed in 2026, that project will include 132 single-family, multi-family and kūpuna homes thanks to an 18-acre land donation that Shin made to DHHL.

Tancayo is also collaborating with the King Lunalilo Trust (lunalilo.org) and the Kalamaʻula Homesteaders Association (kalamaula.com) on Molokaʻi to develop the state’s first homestead-driven kūpuna housing project. Kalanianaʻole Development recently received DHHL approval to conduct a feasibility study for it; financing is expected to be finalized in 2026.

Beyond housing, community spaces are key aspects of all of Kalanianaʻole Development’s projects. “These are gathering places where Hawaiian traditions, values and teachings can be perpetuated, where knowledge can be passed down to the next generation,” Tancayo said. “In this way, our culture is lived, celebrated and preserved.”

Every March 26, Hawaiʻi observes Prince Kūhiō Day as a state holiday honoring the visionary aliʻi who saw land as the Hawaiians’ salvation.

“To us, land is not just property,” Tancayo said. “It connects us to our ancestors, our culture and our identity. Without land and safe, secure housing, it’s difficult for us to maintain traditions, be on solid ground financially, remain rooted in our communities and thrive, not just survive.

“Kalanianaʻole Development is committed to strengthening the lāhui and upholding Hawaiian values. Our work is about building more than housing; it’s about building our future.”

The post Kalanianaʻole Development: It’s About Building Our Future appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

An early look at the data suggests affordability for single family homes has gotten “marginally” worse. Most Hawaiʻi residents still cannot afford to buy a home, and market conditions – including low supply and high interest rates – remain unchanged.

Another factor likely to adversely impact the housing market is the Trump Administration’s termination of thousands of federal jobs in February. These job cuts included positions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which administers programs in Hawaiʻi such as the rental assistance program known as Section 8. HUD could not be reached for comment.

“Hawaiʻi’s been in a bad place for housing affordability for a long time,” said Justin Tyndall, an economics professor with UHERO and the UH Department of Economics. “Our first factbook (2023), pointed out that during the COVID era things got worse, in terms of prices going up quite a bit. Over the last couple years, we’ve been dealing with high interest rates. A very small portion of the population has sufficient income to afford a house, and that figure has gotten historically worse.”

Currently, the median single-family home sells for about $1 million, though this figure varies widely between the islands with the highest median prices in Maui and Honolulu counties.

The condo market on Oʻahu offers some “glimmers of hope,” Tyndall said. New condo developments in Central Honolulu are being built and will become available soon. Condo prices are slightly down on all islands except Maui. According to the 2024 Factbook, the median condo price was $600,000.

But the immediate cause for the slight decrease in condo prices is the insurance market. “These condominium buildings are not able to get insurance because prices have gone up so much. Part of (the rise) is reckoning with climate change, but also a general unraveling of that insurance market. For most buildings, you can’t get a federally insured mortgage if the building doesn’t have full insurance,” said Tyndall. Homeowners’ association fees have gone up rapidly in response to the insurance crisis, and the increase in fees will likely negate any decrease in condo prices.

Affordability in the free market is unlikely to change significantly, at least not any time soon.

People at all levels of government and in the nonprofit sector are pushing for restricted-market housing solutions that can shelter everyone from the houseless to the middle class. A sustainable housing market needs to be permanently affordable, deed restricted to full-time residents, and subsidized said Kenna StormoGipson, Hawaiʻi Housing Policy Foundation executive director.

The Foundation wants to take practices and policies that have worked in other parts of the country and bring them here to Hawaiʻi. StormoGipson often points to Aspen, CO., as a model for what could be.

Of the total housing inventory in Aspen, 40% is permanently affordable through deed restrictions and is only for residents who live and work in Aspen full time. By contrast, only 6% of Hawaiʻi’s housing market is similarly restricted. This leaves the remaining 94% of housing vulnerable to increasing rents that outpace wages or to being sold to buyers who do not live or work in Hawaiʻi.

“The most exciting things happening in housing across the country are happening at the city, county and state level. That’s really the shift. The shift is thinking of housing as a local issue, and then setting local rules and local funding,” said StormoGipson.

State and county elected officials have proposed and introduced measures to address both supply and affordability. But implementing such measures has proven challenging. Tyndall pointed out some examples of county level actions and public housing investments, such as the recently adopted ALOHA Homes legislation and the phasing out of the Minatoya List. “The bigger reason to be somewhat optimistic is there seems to be some political alignment or will to implement policies,” said Tyndall.

Sponsored by Sen. Stanley Chang, the ALOHA Homes bill (SB 864), which became state law in 2023, establishes a 99-year leasehold program to make low-cost leasehold condos units available for Hawaiʻi residents on state-owned land near rail stations. According to Chang’s website, the law would allow half of the units to be sold for up to 140% Annual Median Income (AMI) and no more than 33% to be sold on an income blind basis. AMI is an annual figure generated by HUD and has been criticized for not reflecting local wages. The 140% AMI for a 4- person family in Honolulu is about $183,400.

The “Minatoya List,” created in 2001 by Richard Minatoya, Maui County deputy corporation counsel, allowed more than 7,000 apartment-zoned condos already used as vacation rentals to be permitted as short-term rentals.

In 2024, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen submitted a proposal to phase out these short-term rentals. After being reviewed by the Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi planning commissions, Bissen’s proposal was transmitted to the Maui County Council. Many of the short-term rentals impacted by this proposed legislation were initially built and designed for workforce housing, including in West Maui, where an existing housing shortage was exacerbated by the August 2023 wildfire.

“This is one potential solution to increase long-term housing capacity among many that we are pursuing to address our housing crisis,” Bissen said. “We need to work together to do what’s best for our people. Every day our people are leaving, and this is a consequence we cannot accept as a community.”

Other state programs already in place to lift restrictions for developers seem to be popular, said Tyndall. Examples of these include the Rental Housing Revolving Fund and the 201H Program in Honolulu, which grants permitting or regulatory waivers for projects aimed at creating “affordable housing.” Tyndall questions whether this is the right approach to creating more housing supply.

“We spend a lot of effort making it very difficult to build housing, and then we spend a lot of money to subsidize developers so they can overcome these barriers,” Tyndall said. “The counties and state put up those barriers, and then they have programs to overcome those barriers. It’s a bit inefficient. A bigger supply of housing would come from making it easier for developers to build housing.”

The post The “State of Housing” in Hawaiʻi appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

By Holo Hoʻopai and Lindsay Kukona Pakele

In the pursuit of sustainable and multigenerational community resilience, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ (OHA) Mana i Mauli Ola (MiMO) Strategic Plan outlines a vision for quality housing that prioritizes the wellbeing and vitality of our lāhui.

As Native Hawaiians face increasingly difficult challenges related to housing accessibility, retention, and maintenance, OHA is targeting strategies to help ensure that we are focusing our resources, connections and expertise to meet the current needs of our lāhui while also building a strong foundation for our keiki and moʻopuna.

Our housing team – part of OHA’s new Strategy and Innovation Division – has been tasked to develop bold and innovative approaches to improve housing opportunities for our lāhui by leveraging our collective ʻike in fair housing and housing law and policy, project management, and advocacy to design meaningful, impact-driven housing solutions. Our work is grounded in the need for kānaka to have viable opportunities to live full, rich lives here in Hawaiʻi nei, connected to our ʻāina, culture and lāhui.

Mana i Mauli Ola: Guideposts toward ea

MiMO sets a high bar for our housing team to dream, ideate, and plan projects and programs that are impactful, transformative, and tailored to the unique needs of our lāhui.

MiMO “Quality Housing” Strategy 5 is to “advance policies, programs and practices that strengthen Hawaiian resource management knowledge and skills to meet the housing needs of their ʻohana.”

Strategic outcomes include increasing the number of Hawaiians who rent or own homes that meet their financial and wellbeing needs, and increasing the safety, stability, social support networks, and cultural connection in Native Hawaiian communities. Assisting beneficiaries to develop resource management knowledge and skills is a key component to increasing the number of Native Hawaiians renting and owning homes.

MiMO “Quality Housing” Strategy 6 is to “support the implementation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act and other efforts to meet the housing needs of ʻohana.”

Here, our strategic outcomes include increasing affordable non-traditional housing options (e.g., accessory dwelling units/tiny houses), increasing housing supply on Hawaiian Home Lands, and decreasing Native Hawaiian out-of-state migration.

To chart a path forward, our team has identified three tactical approaches we believe will improve access to information and empower our lāhui with options to make informed choices about their housing priorities. These tactics should also yield data useful to continue improving, innovating, and advocating for our beneficiaries, with an end goal of Hawaiian self-governance.

• Tactic 1: Mālama Honua – provide funding for home improvements/renovations prioritizing homeowners with significant health, safety and financial challenges.
• Tactic 2: Mālama Kānaka – provide funding for tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, etc. in rural communities and other areas where affordable housing is insufficient/absent.
• Tactic 3: Mālama ʻIke – develop and maintain a repository of housing resources available to help beneficiaries navigate the rental and home buying processes.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) is an important partner in this effort, as OHA and DHHL share beneficiaries and have complementary missions. Our goal is to foster meaningful, targeted collaborations and share information, resources and capacity to identify gaps in DHHL services that OHA can help to fill. It’s a unique opportunity for our agencies to work together with shared purpose and vision.

The current state of housing for Native Hawaiians

Housing issues for Hawaiians are multi-faceted, but there are three common themes: few affordable housing options, inadequate financing, and a lack of access to priority housing exclusively for Hawaiians.

Median rent in Hawaiʻi is the second highest in the nation The national median rent is $1,300 while the median rent in Hawaiʻi is $1,813 – 39% higher.

On average, Hawaiian households are larger than non-Hawaiian households for both homeowners and renters, and total household income for Hawaiians lags behind the overall state population ($89,322 versus $92,458). And 54% of Native Hawaiians households spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

Additionally, for years Native Hawaiians have represented about 40% of the houseless population on Oʻahu, despite being less than 20% of the general population.

Exacerbating the lack of housing availability, between 2018-2023, DHHL leases (residential, agricultural, and pastoral) flatlined, growing by just over 1% while the number of applicants on the waitlist rose about 3.5% (from 28,306 to 29,296).

According to a 2020 study, the number of DHHL applicants earning less than 80% of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) area median income (AMI) increased to 51%, meaning more than half of DHHL’s waitlist may not qualify for a turnkey housing unit.

A 2017 HUD report found that, “overall, the Native Hawaiian population faces greater levels of disadvantage than the residents of Hawaiʻi population, and HHCA [Hawaiian Homes Commission Act] beneficiary households on the waiting list…face even larger challenges. By contrast, Hawaiians currently living on the Hawaiian home lands have higher incomes and face housing affordability issues less often.”

The report noted that Hawaiians living on DHHL lands are better off financially than other Hawaiians, and that Hawaiians on DHHL’s waiting list struggle the most with affordability problems, suggesting that this difference could be due to the ability of more financially secure beneficiaries to obtain housing loans and assume homestead leases, versus those who cannot obtain housing loans and thus languish on the waiting list.

Nevertheless, the report confirmed the benefit of DHHL housing and “supports continuous and increased funding for infrastructure, housing development, and housing assistance for low-income HHCA beneficiaries.”

Reframing the housing narrative from “how come?” to “how can?”

The needs of our beneficiaries are many, and OHA cannot achieve its vision of raising a beloved lāhui alone. OHA looks forward to working collaboratively with DHHL, with other partners in the housing community, and with our lāhui – with a focus on information sharing, capacity building and identifying gaps – to develop creative ways for OHA to help our beneficiaries to acquire secure, safe, and affordable housing.

OHA’s Housing, Infrastructure and Sustainability team includes Interim Director Kūʻike Kamakea-ʻŌhelo and Strategy Consultants Holo Hoʻopai and Lindsay Kukona Pakele.

Lindsay Kukona Pakele, Esq. was born in Hilo, and split her childhood between Hawaiʻi and Connecticut. She has a bachelor’s from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, a master’s in education from Hunter College, and a J.D. from the William S. Richardson School of Law. She has a background in education and law and over the past decade, she has focused on Hawaiian and civil rights issues at OHA, the Legal Aid Society of Hawaiʻi, and most recently as a Hawaiʻi DOE Civil Rights Compliance Branch Equity Specialist. She returned to OHA in December 2024.

Holo Hoʻopai was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaiʻi and graduated from Ke Kula ʻo Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu. Prior to joining OHA, Holo worked at UH Hilo where he served as a special assistant to the chancellor and program coordinator. He has a bachelor’s in history from Stanford University and a master’s in Hawaiian language and literature from Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani at UH Hilo.

The post E Kūkulu i ke Kahua: Building Housing Strategies for a Strong Lāhui appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

“ʻAʻohe hana nui ke alu ʻia – no task is too big when done together by all”

This ʻōlelo noʻeau captures the spirit of collective achievement. This saying also serves as a guiding principle for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ (DHHL) multi-pronged approach to alleviating the long-standing wait experienced by many beneficiaries hoping for a homestead.

“It’s been more than a century since the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was enacted, yet the department has awarded a dismal 10,000 leases,” said DHHL Director Kali Watson. “With more than 29,000 of our people on the waitlist, it’s crucial we take action. We need to get creative.”

It is the department’s objective to grant more than 7,500 project, residential, agricultural and pastoral leases in the next several years. With 28 active housing development projects across the pae ʻāina, DHHL also aims to award more than 3,000 single-family homestead lots within the next five years.

Achieving this goal requires bold new strategies, collaborative partnerships, and the backing of our state and county leaders.

“Programs like those stewarded by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands need our state’s full support,” said Gov. Josh Green, M.D. “Investments in the Hawaiian community are investments in our entire state and this administration will work collaboratively with DHHL to ensure every beneficiary has a house to call home.”

New and expanded homestead communities are being developed. These include:

• Oʻahu: Kaʻuluokahaʻi, 700 units; Kaupeʻa, 60 units; ʻEwa Beach 380 units; Maunalua (Hawaiʻi Kai), 80 units; Māʻili, 350 units.
• Maui: Puʻuhona, 161 units; Honokōwai, 50 units; Lei- aliʻi, 181 units; Wailuku, 207 units; Waiʻehu Mauka, 311 units; Kamalani, 400 units.
• Hawaiʻi Island: Laʻiʻōpua, 580 units; Honomū, 40 units; Kaumana, 168 units; Honokaʻa, 296 units; Pālamanui, 40 units; Panaʻewa, 600 units.
• Kauaʻi: Hanapēpē, 82 units; Anahola subsistence agricultural lots, 115 units; Līhuʻe, 1,100 units.
• Molokaʻi: Hoʻolehua agricultural lots, 20 units; Nāʻiwa agricultural lots, 16 units.
• Lānaʻi: Lānaʻi residential lots, 75 units.

In 2022, the department benefited from a vital allocation of $600 million in general funds from the Hawaiʻi State Legislature through the passing of Act 279. Known as the “Waitlist Reduction Act,” Act 279 was specifically designed to support the development of a comprehensive strategy focused on reducing the DHHL waitlist.

But while $600 million is a good start, it falls short of what is truly needed.

“To successfully complete our current projects and provide homes to all those waiting we’d need an estimated $6 billion,” Watson said. “The additional funds requested would help reduce the waitlist.”

Legislation like House Bill 606, introduced by the Native Hawaiian caucus, seeks to secure funding and fulfill the department’s promise to return Native Hawaiians to the land.

Since assuming leadership in March 2023, Watson has implemented history-making moves and revived initiatives that have been absent for decades.

In 2023, DHHL awarded 15 first-of-its-kind subsistence agricultural lots in Panaʻewa on Hawaiʻi Island in August. Four months later, 25 pastoral lots were awarded in Kahikinui, Maui, marking the department’s first selection of pastoral lots since the program’s inception in 1999.

Nearly a year after the devastating Maui wildfires, DHHL brought hope to 52 families in June 2024 with the island’s first residential home offering in 17 years. In October, the department launched its first-ever in-house permitting program, streamlining the building permit process and allowing DHHL to advance on its projects. The following month, 68 agricultural lots were awarded on Hawaiʻi Island, representing the largest agricultural lot offering since the late-1980s.

And DHHL celebrated a landmark occasion this past December by breaking ground on its first high-rise rental apartment, the $155 million Hale Mōʻiliʻili. The event was the start of a two-year development process to create the state’s only affordable housing project exclusively serving DHHL beneficiaries.

This year marks the start of project leases – this administration’s take on undivided interest lease awards last issued in the early 2000s. Project leases will connect waitlisters to a particular place or project and will be awarded before the development of a homestead community. This strategy will allow Native Hawaiian beneficiaries the opportunity to transfer their lease to an approved heir who meets the 25% blood quantum criteria.

The department is set to acquire, renovate and upgrade its first townhouse project, the Courtyards of Waipouli. The 82-unit condominium in Kapaʻa, Kauaʻi, will provide those on the waitlist with a chance to pay rents below market value with the option of purchasing the units after 10 or 15 years.

Additional efforts include documenting and clearing vacant homestead lots, programs for kūpuna and transitional housing, the utilization of low-income housing tax credits and the push for developers to design communities that align with the financial capabilities of lessees.

Creating a lasting future for a trust championed by a prince is a big task. Nonetheless, beneficiaries can expect a seismic shift in the program’s direction as key components of Watson’s vision come together.

“We’re building a foundation for the next 100 years,” Watson said. “Our ʻāina is the backbone of the Hawaiian people, and it is our mission to ensure Hawaiians remain connected to the land for generations to come; just as Prince Kūhiō envisioned.”

The post The Next 100 Years: DHHL Outlines Advancements in Addressing its Waitlist appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

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Blanche McMillan looks across several acres of land in Waimānalo that have been cleared by family and friends. Piles of dirt and logs line the perimeter with the Koʻolau Mountains in the background. She envisions its future.

“I see housing for 300, maybe more,” McMillan states.

Known as “Aunty Blanche,” she will realize this vision just as she did with the nearby 14 acres of land managed by Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina, a nonprofit that initially started as a foodbank and outreach center.

“This is my backyard. This is where I was raised all my 71 years,” McMillan says with a chuckle as she thinks back to her childhood in the area where she played “cowboys and indians” with her 16 siblings. It is where she and her husband raised eight keiki, cared for 20 foster children, and hānai many others.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) owns the land, which is behind her family homestead. However, McMillan can date the ʻāina back to her great-great-tūtū Rebecca Kahalewai, a high chiefess.

Waimānalo District Councilmember Esther Kiaʻāina, who was DLNR Deputy Director from 2012-2014, recalled McMillan’s decades-long effort to lease the land for agricultural and educational purposes.

“It’s by the grace of God that she’s been on the property because she has no legal authority,” said Kiaʻāina.

McMillan served at St. George Catholic Church as its outreach coordinator for the poor before she took on a greater calling to do more for her community. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, McMillan didn’t wait for permission from the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to build a place for the houseless. Instead, she got to work.

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Fourteen houseless people from Waimānalo beach who she had been caring for through outreach over the years, went with her to the overgrown DLNR area where she told them, “We’re gonna move here, you guys coming home.”

They, along with McMillan’s family members, cleared the land. “We worked hard. Everything we did, we did it by hand in the beginning, then the neighbors heard about it. The ones who had trucks, machines – they brought the machines in.”

Trees that were cut down and chopped were turned into mulch for future use. Donors came forward with materials and in one month the first nine small structures were up.

“When I put up these homes here, that was during the COVID time and they didn’t give me the lease. I said, forget it. I’m going to save my people and I don’t need the state, city or federal [government] to give me funding. From then on, I had zero, everything that I asked, the Lord provided it.”

Today, there are 59 livable structures, a screened-in kitchen with nearby picnic tables under a large tent, portable toilets, and areas for washing. McMillan runs water from her home which fronts the gated parcel.

Eighty-two individuals are currently at Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina: four of whom have cancer; 26 are keiki; 15 are kūpuna. The oldest resident is 93. Some residents have pets, which McMillan also welcomes.

“They say, Aunty, I finally got a home that I love and I want to die here. I take care all of them,” said McMillan, whose love is infectious and whose strictness – that only a local aunty can weild – is respected.

Gavin Kalai has been staying at Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina for four months and said the secure environment and mandatory work schedules have helped him. “This is a real positive place for people like me where I can make something of myself. This is a healing place and has helped me in many ways,” he said.

“The challenges I come across, being here gives me the strength to rise above,” added Clark Choy, another resident who has found inspiration and purpose to give back to the community.

“This is beyond saying, ‘come, I will give you shelter.’ You’re giving them their identity,” said McMillan. “When I decided to do this, I wanted to do it the old Hawaiian way. You bring them home, everybody has one big ʻohana. You love them and care for them and make sure they’re all fine.”

McMillan says providing only shelter without a support system and basic needs, such as food and clothing, won’t work in helping the homeless. McMillan also conducts random drug tests to deter drug use in the community.

Many of McMillan’s family members have a role in Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina. Her first cousin and longtime Waimānalo resident Mabel Keliʻihoʻomalu helps with fundraising.

“That lady right there and her family have the heart to serve people. This kind of homeless people need extra love, extra, extra, extra, and that one (pointing to McMillan) overflows. She touches everybody and we all get energized and swept up in her motion and we willing to follow her, no matter what,” said Keliʻihoʻomalu.

This includes the mission to grow food for the Waimānalo community. Every second Saturday, residents are required to gather at 8:00 a.m. to work in the 7.5-acre garden that is filled with various plants, fruit trees, and kalo.

“I had to teach them what is [the] Hawaiian way. The old ways, they say, you take care the ʻāina, the ʻāina takes care of you. And that’s exactly what the ʻāina did, it’s taking care of them,” said McMillan. “Every time they put their hands into the soil, into the ground, everything changed their whole life afterwards. This is how it is. Their way of living has changed. They are no longer sad, they’re happy.”

McMillan also teaches residents about resiliency and preparing for disasters such as ensuring that there is an unobstructed ditch to prevent flooding during big rain events.

In addition to developing the acres in Waimānalo, McMillan has started plans to expand to Maui, Hawaiʻi Island and Molokaʻi. She has garnered the support of Gov. Josh Green and respected business leader and aio founder Duane Kurisu to help with the building of future housing initiatives for those in need.

In the meantime, McMillan is getting support from aio to conduct a topographical survey of the area at Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina. BLNR has yet to grant her a lease due to flooding concerns. However, McMillan said she addressed the area of concern by digging a ditch to direct flowing water from the mountainside toward the bridge that leads to the ocean. When people heard about her plans, she said excavators came forward and tractors were donated.

“Might as well do it because they ain’t gonna do nothing,” she said referring to the government agencies.

For McMillan, digging a ditch is just another example of finding a way to care for the ʻāina and her people.

“She has both the vision and the willpower to get things done for our community against the backdrop of having to navigate all of these bureaucracies,” said Kiaʻāina. “And it’s not easy. She’s a doer.”

The post Housing the Hawaiian Way: Hui Mahiʻai ʻĀina in Waimānalo is providing homes and a place to heal appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

“Our ‘fish-in’ is simply Lahaina Strong occupying Kāʻanapali Beach while raising awareness for the many issues we are still dealing with in Lahaina,” explained Lahaina Strong Campaigns Coordinator Jordan Ruidas. “Our routine as Lahaina Strong is to hold down camp, support community members, educate tourists, take interviews, etc.”

She adds that the group’s other activities include empowering the community by raising awareness, and by holding community events and meetings.

The Lahaina Strong Hui, also known simply as “Lahaina Strong,” was formed five years ago to address the needs of Lahaina residents after an earlier wildfire scorched some 2,100 acres in Lahaina, destroying 21 homes and causing $4.3 million in damages on Aug. 24, 2018.

Since that time, Lahaina Strong has been advocating for centering the recovery of Lahaina on the needs of Kānaka Maoli and kamaʻāina residents, as well as for the restoration of water and land rights.

“We are taking a stand for housing to be provided and will keep standing up for the people of Lahaina through the whole process and beyond,” Ruidas declared. “Community is what always comes through when stuff like this happens. We have seen it with the 2018 fires and saw it again this time. Community is our best attribute!”

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For many in West Maui and beyond, Lahaina Strong also represents a powerful call for change as more Kānaka Maoli and local residents are priced out of Hawaiʻi due to soaring housing costs and the overall high cost of living.

“Maui was already going through a major housing crisis before the wildfires. The fires displaced roughly 10,000 people by burning most of the local people’s housing. We are taking a stand for housing to be provided – and will keep standing up for the people of Lahaina through the whole process and beyond,” said Ruidas.

For many in the community, the ‘fish-in’ has provided much needed educational and emotional support as people continue to be shuffled between hotels.

According to Lahaina Strong, there are about 6,700 people still living in hotels – and many have had to relocate more than eight times in the last four months.

Displaced families have reported that, while some hotels have been compassionate towards them, others have not. Families can be evicted on short notice and many do not have access to kitchen and laundry facilities. Large families with children have even been placed in different hotels due to maximum room capacity.

Ruidas said that while she believes that state and federal agencies have done their best, the most daunting problem to finding long term solutions is the actual lack of available housing.

“We have heard the agencies say that they want to sign long-term leases for victims, but they can’t find places to actually sign long-term leases for,” Ruidas noted.

To help address this, the Maui County Council recently passed Bill 131 that incentivizes short-term rental owners with a 100% real property tax exemption to those willing to provide long-term housing for displaced families. The bill passed on its first reading and received over 680 written testimonies proving the measure has strong community support. As of press time, the bill was awaiting final approval.

Ruidas believes that there are additional measures that the governor and mayor could take to increase the inventory of long term housing. “It’s time for our mayor and or governor to enact an immediate moratorium on short-term rentals, especially in Lahaina, so they can be rented long-term by fire victims,” Ruidas said.

Compounding the situation has been the re-opening of tourism in West Maui. While displaced families are grateful for the support hotels initially provided, many now feel that tourists are being prioritized while they are still struggling to find stable housing and coping with trauma.

“They [the government] did not provide housing before they [re]opened tourism. What does that say to you? It says you don’t matter. Tourism matters,” said Maui advocate and Nā Aikāne Hub volunteer Carol Lee Kamekona. “Our families still don’t know where they will lay their head the next day. ʻShelters’ are not housing.”

Kamekona, like many others on Maui, applauds the efforts of Lahaina Strong as well as groups like Maui Rapid Response.

“I love them. They are bringing awareness that something must be done and telling the government to stop this nonchalant attitude. Sometimes direct action needs to be taken. People don’t understand the amount of destruction that has happened in Lahaina. It will take years to rebuild Lahaina and in the meantime, why should we keep getting pushed off our own homeland?”

Adds Ruidas, “Maui needs help, major help. The tourism industry is being put before the people once again. We in West Maui are looking to flip the script, diversify our economy and create the Lahaina we, the people, want. We are hoping to inspire other places to do so as well.”

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A new initiative has the potential to shift the paradigm for residents needing affordable housing in Maui County.

The Maui County Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan was presented to the Maui County Council on July 19 by local nonprofit, Hawaiian Community Assets (HCA). The plan identifies specific projects and outlines strategies to enable the development of 5,000 new affordable homes across the county within the next five years.

“The council wanted a plan that would get us 5,000 units in five years,” said HCA Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath. “We recognized it was really ambitious, but this is the community’s best foot forward. It’s going to take significant changes and everybody working together. The trick is that this is going to cost them [the county] about $1.2 billion.”

HCA Maui Program Manager Rhonda Alexander-Monkres believes the current council has an appetite to go big and get this done for the community. “The key will be weathering leadership transitions – how will the importance of the plan be sustained over time?”

Adds Gilbreath, “We are talking about creating community oversight and advisory groups so there can be continuity through the process, as well as an affordable housing coordinator who would be responsible for getting this finished in partnership with community development nonprofits and across county agencies.”

HCA was contracted by the county in late 2020 to assess the availability of government and private lands for the development of affordable housing. This, in response to an extreme shortage of affordable homes and rentals in the county.

“In the last five years, there were 2,853 homes approved in Maui County,” noted Alexander-Monkres. “And of all the homes approved, only 44% (1,265) were considered ‘affordable.’”

The plan was developed through an eight-month interactive community outreach program. Ideas and input were gathered from a broad spectrum of participants, from aspiring renters and homeowners to developers and financial institutions, as well as various cultural and environmentally focused community groups with expertise or interest in housing.

Led by Gilbreath and HCA co-founder and long-time housing advocate Blossom Feiteira, the team was comprised of 19 planners with expertise in engineering, architecture, data and policy analysis, law and community development.

The team identified promising and proven affordable housing strategies in other high-cost communities on the continent, along with the capacity of the county, community and development partners to implement the plan. The plan also addresses the need to invest in infrastructure – a key obstacle to affordable housing development in Maui County.

In addition to the goal of building 5,000 affordable units in record time, the plan also calls for the county to provide adequate funding to the Affordable Housing Fund to help finance development, require market-rate developers to dedicate 20% of their land to affordable housing, utilize county-owned land for affordable housing, and streamline the development process.

It also calls out the need to use initial pilot projects to identify and address gaps in the proposed affordable housing system and to fund supportive housing that addresses the needs of extremely low-income residents with priority going to kūpuna, houseless families, and persons with disabilities.

Thirty-six priority projects across the county were identified, and are located in east, central, south and west Maui, plus Pāʻia and Haʻikū, as well as on Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.

But building affordable homes is only part of the equation – the other part is getting people into the homes. “HCA is here to help empower residents to get home purchase ready,” said Alexander-Monkres. “The programs and services we provide are proven successful. We want to continue to figure out ways to help people afford to live here.”

Outsiders dabbling in Hawaiʻi’s real estate market are part of the reason housing prices are so high and inventory is so low. To ensure that the planned affordable homes go to qualifying kamaʻāina, HCA is proposing a “qualified resident definition” that would, for example, require homebuyers to live and work in Maui County 75% of the time and have resided in the county for a minimum of two years.

Said Gilbreath, “Eight of the 10 high-cost communities that we researched on the continent have a local residency preference, so this is not something out of the norm. The fact that we don’t already have something like this is kind of shocking. I believe the council wants to see a pretty aggressive residency qualification.”

There is no doubt that a new system for developing affordable housing is sorely needed, not just on Maui, but across the pae ‘āina. For too long, the system has failed our communities. If adopted and implemented, the plan that HCA has developed for Maui County could change all that and serve as a model for affordable housing initiatives in other counties.

“This is more than just a roadmap to get to 5,000 homes,” said Gilbreath. “It really puts forward the notion that housing is a human right. For far too long, government has not invested public dollars into our greatest assets – our local communities and our local families.

“We’re in this situation as a result of 40 years of housing policy, primarily handed down by the federal government, that operates on the premise that housing subsidies and support are a ʻgiveaway’ to folks who are undeserving, rather than it being an investment – and the right investment. That has been the dominant narrative.

“But the dominant narrative has kept us in this crisis for far too long. So we’re basically flipping that on its head and challenging it to say, ‘No. Communities matter. Local people matter. Families are connected. This is not a giveaway. In Hawaiʻi, housing is a human right.’”

To review the plan go to: www.MauiHousingPlan.org

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