HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands said hundreds of millions of dollars are needed now — along with billions of dollars in the future — to help clear the wait list for Native Hawaiians.
Lawmakers have concerns about the allocations of taxpayer funds, however.
Close to 30,000 Native Hawaiians remain on the DHHL wait list for homes, the Department estimated it will take over $6 billion to clear it.
“The DHHL has been underfunded for decades, it’s over 100 years old, and it’s never been fully funded and meanwhile, the Hawaiian diaspora continues to grow, cutting families from their Aina for generations,” said Ka Lahui Hawaii Political Action Committee Chair Healani Sonada Pale.
$600 million was appropriated to the DHHL in 2022 and the funding was expected to get about 2,500 names off the wait list. Latest data shows just over 1,600 have been removed, but a House Standing Committee report said $600 million more dollars will be needed in the current session.
“And if what you’re telling me is out of the first allocation of the $600 million, you were only able to award 1,600 leases, the math is not mathing,” said Sen. Samantha DeCorte.
“Please know that we haven’t spent all of the 600 million yet,” said Kalani Fronda, DHHL Land Development Division acting administrator.
$129 million from the 2022 appropriation has yet to be spent and lawmakers say that needs to get done before the department asks for more money.
The DHHL said hundreds of more leases on homes will be doled out in the current fiscal year, but one applicant who has been waitlisted for 40 years said taxpayers should not be footing the bill to build them.
“Just give them their land, allow them to build their own if it’s such a problem with the money. All we want is our property, our land,” said Maysana Aldeguer, an applicant. “I have eight, nine siblings and they’re all on the waitlist and we are still waiting.”
An exact dollar amount that the DHHL is requesting from the Legislature this session has not yet been written into the bill. The proposal will be heard again in committee on March 18.