Ten acres of prime, developable property above the thriving town of Kailua, owned by Honolulu’s city government have been sitting vacant for decades — 63 years, in fact. All the while, Honolulu’s housing shortage and affordability crisis has continued.
Throughout this period, the roll of Native Hawaiian beneficiaries waiting for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) to fulfill its mandate in developing and providing properties also grew and roiled, with many beneficiaries dying before they could gain a Hawaiian home.
On Tuesday, a resolution was introduced at the Honolulu City Council that would touch on all three of these issues, and resolve the first. Resolution 24-151 calls for city conveyance of the empty acreage, once envisioned as the site for an elementary school that’s no longer needed, to the DHHL to develop as Hawaiian homes.
It’s a win-win-win idea that should be approved and
advanced swiftly.
The property, valued at $10.5 million, was officially declared “surplus,” i.e. unneeded for city operations, in 2015. Also that year, the state schools superintendent formally consented to its use for purposes other than education.
The vacant parcel in Kailua’s Kalaheo Hillside area was purchased from Kaneohe Ranch in 1961, but plans to build a school never materialized, and the current population of the area doesn’t justify its use for that purpose. Proposals to develop the property as affordable housing or to sell the property for private housing development led to some pushback by neighboring residents. But because the land is already zoned for single-family housing and includes infrastructure and homes —
18 homes border the property, and homes on Kalaheo Hillside sell for between $1 million and $7 million — none of the objections appear to rise to the level of legal concern.
The land could result in development of around 20 to 60 homestead lots — not enough to make a significant dent in DHHL’s approximately 28,700-beneficiary waitlist, but certainly enough to fulfill long-awaited dreams for Hawaiian households. “Transferring this land from the city to DHHL is a priceless gift that will create lasting benefits for our ohana,” said DHHL Director Kali Watson.
Indeed, it would amount to about a $10 million gift, which DHHL could quickly put to work. The resolution states that the land transfer would be largely a gift to the state and DHHL.
The proposed sale price of the parcel is $495,323 — a very specific dollar amount that is the cost to the city for a previous land exchange it made with DHHL in Ewa to gain access to property for the rail project. That nearly half-million dollars comes back into city coffers, while the transfer also relieves the city of responsibility for stewardship and safeguarding of vacant land.
The property’s sloping setting does raise concerns about storm runoff and land stability, but these are engineering issues that can be solved. Careful environmental and architectural analysis must be done before any construction begins, of course.
Finally, the benefits of providing housing and of siting homesteads in Kailua, where there are presently none, far outweigh theoretical burdens on the community from increased density.
Resolution 24-151 correctly states that Honolulu is suffering an “affordable housing crisis,” and providing land to DHHL will facilitate creation of affordable homes. It also notes that as creations of the state, county governments have a role in supporting DHHL “to provide native Hawaiians with homesteads.” These foundational statements provide abundant justification for following through with this proposed land transfer.
