More homelands options sought

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Those who manage Hawaiian homesteading, the centerpiece among entitlements for those of at least half-Hawaiian ancestry, are retooling the way new projects take shape in the hope that fewer people are left waiting for a home that fits their life.

When Kawehi Apo and her father, Eben Kalaau, received homestead offers from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, the timing wasn't right for them. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Still, said department director Micah Kane, about 12,000 applicants for residential leases have not found their homestead, even if they've received offers.

"Often, it's not the right time in their life, or it's an area they're not interested in," Kane said. "We're looking at some of the barriers they're facing, and trying to give them more notice of an opportunity coming up — maybe 18 to 24 months."

Among those familiar with these problems are Eben Kalaau, a pure Hawaiian, and his 32-year-old daughter Kawehi Apo. Kalaau, 65, was offered a lease on the Big Island, where he'd like to retire.

However, he said he'd sold his family home on O'ahu to help Apo finance her home in Kailua where she now lives with her husband and daughter, and to purchase his Honolulu condominium. He had no money at that time for another down payment.

Apo, meanwhile, was offered a lease in 1998 at the Papakolea subdivision Kalawahine, one of the higher-end projects. But she was a young wife with a new baby at the time and didn't see such a large down payment as a wise prospect at the time.

"The homes were $300,000," she said. "If I was going to make such a hefty payment, it was going to be something that I really loved, and this wasn't my dream home."

In the interest of creating a wider range of options for applicants, DHHL officials are trying different approaches:

• The department is looking for single-family subdivisions to purchase from developers and landowners, land that can be developed quickly for affordable homes. An April 1 deadline has been set for proposals.

• Land purchases and swaps are being pursued to convert the department's inventory of smaller, scattered parcels into larger areas in locations where people want to live. A bill that would prevent the sale or swap of ceded lands — those former lands of the Hawaiian kingdom now controlled by the state — has been amended to make an exception enabling DHHL to carry out such sales or swaps.

• Another bill moving through the Legislature would allow the department to enter business deals with private companies, aimed at generating revenue for future land purchases and developments. This money will help replace the revenue from the settlement, which will expire in another nine years, Kane said.

• Last month, the department signed a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development division. Kane said this accord should enable Hawai'i to tap into more federal financing for projects that will support more homesteading. New roads, water lines and other improvements should benefit the non-Hawaiian community in surrounding areas as well.

"We want the public to view us as an asset, something that brings federal dollars and allows the non-native community to tie into a system," he said.

DHHL also has some fences to mend with its direct beneficiaries, those with 50 percent or more Hawaiian blood, some of whom still doubt the agency's good intentions.

Kalaau and his daughter count themselves among recent converts. He recalls his first encounter with DHHL staff 30 years ago, when he first sought to make an application.

"I told them I was pure Hawaiian, and they kind of laughed at me," he said. "And my sisters had already applied ... that kind of ticked me off."

It was Apo who finally submitted her father's application along with her own. And although both are still waiting for the right offer to come at the right time, they agree that at least the department seems interested in their views.

Both attended an informational session the department held last fall, in which applicants were asked their views on how Hawaiians are best served.

"They were actually asking for criticism," Apo said. "Yeah, they know they're not perfect. But at least they want to be more accessible."

"More in touch with the people," Kalaau said.

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.