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The Tragedy of Hawaiian Homelands Leases
#1
We’ve talked a lot about Hawaiian Homelands over the years, the long waiting lists, ineffectual management at DHHL in getting people on the land, and their favoritism in approving high cost bids for improvements.  

Pro Publica posted a story with facts, figures, charts, and details.  Here’s how it all began:

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole, considered the father of the Hawaiian Homes program and Hawaii’s then-nonvoting delegate to Congress, around 1918 envisioned using some of the former kingdom lands to create a land trust to uplift Native Hawaiians. Kuhio’s idea was to return them to their native lands so they could become self-sufficient, maintain the culture and reverse the population decline. “This rehabilitation bill is the first opportunity given the poor man to go on the land with funds to help him make a living,” Kuhio said in Honolulu in 1920 as he lobbied to build public support.

The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act was signed into law in 1921. 

https://www.propublica.org/article/draft...ds-mainbar


The reality?  Today a Hawaiian family must qualify for a $300,000 mortgage for homestead property approval.  In the first 40 years 1700 leases were awarded, the number now stands at 8400, the majority since 1995.  Over 2000 people have died on the waiting list, but almost everyone agrees that’s an extremely low estimate.
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#2
I don’t think many banks want to get involved in the legal/political nightmare
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#3
Banks are perfectly willing to get involved, but only for those who can afford the mortgage, which disqualifies most native Hawaiians. Per the article, DHHL had to look through the first 4000 names on the waiting list to find 271 qualified homebuyers. The other 3729 don't get to live on the land that is their birthright.

DHHL insists that they "cannot, by law" allow "substandard" housing such as a tent. That same tent in a beach park, occupied by a homeless person? Not DHHL's problem, even if that homeless person is a native Hawaiian.
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#4
If homestead approvals are based on the last 25 years, it will take another 182 years for everyone on the waiting list to get their lot.  That is, if they also have $300,000.  That’s not a system functioning as intended.

https://twitter.com/agnel88_philip/statu...82019?s=21
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