Between 3,000 and 6,000 new homestead lots could be developed with $600 million allocated to the Department of Hawaii Home Lands this year.
During a livestreamed interview Wednesday, DHHL Deputy Chair Tyler Iokepa Gomes said there are still some open questions about how specifically the $600 million — the single largest allocation of funding in the department’s history — will be spent.
Those questions, Gomes said, will be answered in a strategic plan to be published in December. However, he added that the department has determined that the “vast majority” of the funds should be used to produce single-family homesteads, which he said 76% of the 28,700 Native Hawaiians on the DHHL’s waitlist want.
Gomes said a small portion of the funds also would be used for onetime payments to DHHL beneficiaries who don’t want a DHHL-provided homestead, “or other creative ideas,” depending on what beneficiaries want.
But with the majority of the funds going to homesteads, Gomes said that with smart spending, the department could develop as many as 6,000 new lots.
When the allocation was ratified on July 11, DHHL Chairman William Aila said the funds would expedite the construction process, condensing projects that would have taken 10 to 15 years into just three to five years.
“This isn’t the whole waitlist, but I think we’ve been very transparent from the beginning that the need is so great,” Gomes said Wednesday. “I think we all know that $600 million is not going to eliminate the waitlist in its entirety.”
Gomes added that it would take an estimated $4.5 billion to fully clear the waitlist.
When the DHHL does start work on new homesteads, Gomes said the department will try to make sure that it has projects active on each island, so that people on each island’s waitlist can be served. Lots could become available within two to five years, he added.
“Now’s the time to start thinking smart about your finances,” Gomes said. “Now is the time to start thinking about how to improve your credit, increasing your savings so you can come up with a down payment … if you’re waiting for a homestead and you’ve been waiting for a long time, the decision between buying a new car and qualifying for a home in a couple years, that’s a tough decision you’re going to have to make, but we want everyone to be prepared.”
Gomes said beneficiaries can reach out to DHHL for resources to help qualify, find their position on the waitlist, and ensure the DHHL can reliably contact them.
Gomes said DHHL has until midway through 2024 to spend all the funds, although he added that the department will go back to the state Legislature next year to request an additional year.
The $600 million in funding was approved by state lawmakers earlier this year and later signed into law by Gov. David Ige.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.