Kehaulani Wilson has been on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list for 30 years. She flew in from San Diego this weekend to attend an orientation meeting for the East Kapolei I development — the largest DHHL residential project to date.

"I'm close to retirement ... I miss home," said Wilson, who has been living in California since 1984. "This would give me an opportunity to come home."

More than 700 people on the Home Lands waiting list attended the meeting yesterday on the Kamehameha Schools Kapalama campus. Like Wilson, all have dreams of owning their own home on Hawaiian homestead land, but only 350 families will be chosen to receive lots for the new development during a selection meeting next month.

"Hopefully I'll be one of those selected," said Wilson, who said she had moved to San Diego because her husband was in the military.

The meeting was an opportunity to familiarize the possible lessees with the project and offer home buyer education and financial planning.

And while even the largest DHHL project to date is still limited in the number of Hawaiians it can get into homes, officials say that the department is committed to "whittling down" the list of thousands waiting for a residential unit.

"The opportunities are going to be there," said Micah Kane, director of DHHL. "Right now we've ramped up our development from awarding 100 units a year to a little over 1,200 units."

About 7,000 families are on the DHHL waiting list on O'ahu alone, said Kane. By year's end, the department will have awarded more than 2,500 units in three years. The agency, which is tasked with a federal mandate to place qualified Hawaiians on land set aside for them, wants to award 6,000 statewide residential leases to Hawaiians by 2010.

The $31.7 million East Kapolei I project is next to 'Ewa Villages and the proposed University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus. Included in the cost is a section of the Kapolei Parkway that would connect with the future North-South Road.

A total of 403 single-family homes are planned for the development, but 350 will be awarded during a meeting on Oct. 22, said Lloyd Yonenaka, DHHL spokesman.

Eva Robella of Mililani has been on the waiting list for a home since 1996. She could have been awarded a home in the Kaupe'a subdivision in Kapolei at the last award meeting, but Robella said she chose to wait for the East Kapolei I development.

"I have a home; I'm just concerned for my daughter," Robella said.

If she is awarded a home in East Kapolei I, Robella plans to transfer it to her daughter, Kim, she said.

Kim Robella said she'll wait "as long as it takes" to get a home for her and her family. It would be at least 18 months before construction on the homes begin, according to DHHL.

"That'll give me time to save money," Kim Robella said.

Ben Henderson, deputy director of DHHL, told the crowd that the early awarding of units will give families time to plan financially.

Through DHHL's Home Ownership Assistance Program, families will be offered home buyer education, financial literacy courses, financial counseling and debt management services, he said.

East Kapolei I is the third DHHL addition to Kapolei. The agency is now in the second of three phases in the Kaupe'a subdivision, which consists of 326 single-family homes between Kapolei High School and Kapolei Middle School.

The 156-home Malu'ohai subdivision is also on DHHL land in Kapolei.

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.