Editorial: Time for Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to step up pace

The game plan is taking shape for one of the state’s most ambitious plans to attack Hawaii’s housing crisis: the $600 million program aimed at Native Hawaiian homesteading beneficiaries.

This is a game with many more moves, of course. There will be potential changes in strategy, but the bottom line is that the three-year deadline be met so that the money doesn’t lapse into the general fund.

Lawmakers, officials of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) and the beneficiaries and private-sector experts with ideas to contribute are all called to guide the process.

Planning has reached this threshold in the midst of a transition to a new administration, a governor who has put the affordable housing shortage atop his priorities and, pending legislative confirmation, a new director of the DHHL itself.

DHHL’s finalized 99-page spending plan, dated Dec. 6, is in the hands of legislative leaders, who will need to take it up in about a month when the 2023 session convenes.

In addition, a competing proposal for spending the outlay of funds has been submitted by the Sovereign Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations (SCHHA).

The council represents those beneficiaries who have homesteads, but it has long been an advocate for reducing the mammoth backlog in serving others who are qualified — those with 50% or more Hawaiian ancestry.

SCHHA’s 16-page proposal would include improvements to the agency that go beyond the more targeted housing mission. For example, the SCHHA plan directs money to be spent on other overall agency improvements, such as information technology upgrades and other changes to boost capacity.

That may comprise a more aspirational wish list than can be delivered within the time frame set by law, but such ideas deserve a fair hearing for longer-range planning.

Congress enacted the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act a century ago, after the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the U.S. annexation of Hawaii, to support the indigenous population by providing homestead lots.

Over the decades, however, the land-rich but cash-poor DHHL, governed by the Hawaiian Homes Commission, fell far short of its goals, until the current waiting list of some 28,000 beneficiaries had accrued.

To address this deficit, DHHL has placed its focus on accelerating work on 20 subdivisions already underway at various stages. This would seem to make practical sense, with the aim of producing as many units as possible in short order.

Moving forward, officials will need to defend how the funds are allocated, between conventional development projects and other programs aimed at assisting beneficiaries in getting housed. The current plan has dedicated up to $540 million for the development of an estimated 2,727 homestead lots — a reduction from the more than 3,000 lots originally envisioned.

Additionally, DHHL proposes about 177 rental apartments, as well as land acquisition and about $60 million on beneficiary aid programs such as down payments and rental subsidies. It is smart to make some allowances for assistance to Native Hawaiians who may fall short of qualifying for a mortgage. They should have an option for alternative benefits.

William Aila Jr., DHHL director and commission chairman under the previous administration, oversaw the finalization of the plan, before the election of Gov. Josh Green. Aila said the plan was designed to be flexible. There should be an opening for discussion of other options.

For example, proponents of the SCHHA blueprint are making a case for leveraging some of the funds as public financing to gain access to private capital. There could be further input on that from the external experts who will serve as consultants.

Among his various Cabinet appointments of the past week, Green announced he was developing advisory councils for his housing strategies and a “special team that will advise and work on implementing the spending plan” for DHHL.

Team members would include “banking, financing, development, homestead, cultural, and stakeholder experts,” according to the governor’s announcement.

This will be necessary consultation: Act 279, which authorized the spending of the funds, requires completion of housing units at a far greater scale and faster pace than DHHL has shown the capacity to deliver.

But success also will require firm direction from the top, including from the new nominee to succeed Aila, former City Council Chairman Ikaika Anderson. Demonstrating his grasp of a unified vision for the development plan should be a key criterion for Anderson’s confirmation by the Legislature.

DHHL also intends to propose other legislation aimed at increasing productivity, eliminating regulatory constraints and making other changes.

All of that needs careful review by lawmakers, whose goal this session is to set up DHHL for success, to do right by beneficiaries at last. There’s no time to waste.