News Release
Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations
The Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) completed a six-month consultation project with native Hawaiians defined in the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA). The HHCA was enacted by the U.S. Congress setting aside 203,000 acres of land to issue lots to eligible Hawaiians for residential, farming, ranching and mercantile purposes.
In 1959, through the Hawaii Admissions Act, state government was mandated to administer the day-to-day functions of the land trust with federal oversight. Today, 28,700 remain on a state waitlist for a land award.
Act 279 was enacted by the Hawaii legislature in May 2022 appropriating $600 million in flexible funding to address the waitlist of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL). Led by the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, the largest coalition of Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 beneficiaries, a final 15-page report has been delivered to Governor Josh Green and the Hawaii Legislature.
“It’s an extraordinary vision by the Hawaii Legislature,” said Kipukai Kualii, Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations policy committee chairperson. “Our work product attempts to honor that vision and leverage every dollar to issue more land awards and build and acquire housing units. Mahalo to the hundreds of minds and hands in the production of this plan.”
Community leaders began meeting on May 19, 2022, followed by several meetings with industry experts, unions, mortgage lenders and realtors, builders and developers. The last in-person policy convenings was held on November 19, 2022 on Oahu.
“We spent 6 months in community-based organizing,” said Rolina Faagai, Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations policy analyst, and the vice chair of the nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI), Hawaiian Lending & Investments (HLI). “This spending plan suggests allocations of capital for maximum leveraging for maximum impact to the Waitlist and the Hawaii housing crisis.”
A list of 10 action items are included for Governor Green to clear barriers to the flow of housing capital and housing development. For example, community leaders recommend the opening of a homestead building permit office at Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, capital investment to quicken additional dwelling units on existing homesteads, subsidies to buy or build rental housing, and direct acquisition of buildable lots and large land acreages from the private sector, increasing the size of the land trust.
A public private partnership, the plan approaches housing development by leveraging the public Act 279 capital with private mortgage and commercial finance capital to purchase and build housing units. The plan supports lot development through dedicating Act 279 funding to improve Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’s capacity to successfully deploy CIP Bond Capital for lot infrastructure projects on a year over year basis.
“This plan leverages, builds and acquires,” Kualii added. “We want to move capital, to move land and housing, to move the waitlist, all within common sense strategies given the current economic environment of inflation, but also to contribute solutions to the overall housing crisis in the State of Hawaii. We hope many of our concepts will be given sincere consideration by Governor Green.”
“The recommendations contained in this Beneficiary $600 million Spending Plan embodies the best of citizen civic engagement and indigenous self-determination,” said Tasha Kama, Maui County Councilwoman and Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 Beneficiary. “Nothing about us, without us.”
Delivered yesterday, December 5, 2022, the Beneficiary $600 million Spending Plan was written over six months of consultation, for delivery to Governor Green and the Hawaii Legislature. Act 279 requires a Department of Hawaiian Home Lands plan be provided to the Legislature by December 10, 2022.
For a copy of the plan or more information, contact policy@hawaiianhomesteads.org.
About Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations and Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands
Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA) and Association of Hawaiians for Homestead Lands (AHHL) are the two largest and most representative policy voices on issues impacting trust lands as defined under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA). SCHHA founded in 1987, and AHHL founded in 2008 represent the interests of nearly 10,000 trust land lessees and 28,000 on the waitlist. Each are registered as federally defined homestead associations under 43 CFR Part 47/48 with the Department of Interior.
