Native Hawaiians Waiting for Homesteads- Hawaii Business Magazine

In the article, Fixing the Backlog of Native Hawaiians Waiting for Homesteads, Noelle Fuji-Oride writes about the native Hawaiians waiting for homesteads. Here is an excerpt from the September 4, 2019 article:

bout 28,500 adults who are at least 50% Native Hawaiian are waiting for residential, farming or ranching homesteads from the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

This backlog exacerbates Hawai‘i’s overall housing shortage – an estimated 64,700 to 66,000 more units are needed to meet overall demand by 2025 – and contributes to a homeless crisis that disproportionately affects Native Hawaiians.

Developer Peter Savio points out that building more homes on Hawaiian home lands will help reduce Hawai‘i’s affordable housing crisis. He explains the domino effect as each Hawaiian moves to a homestead home: “If they own a home, it becomes a rental unit. If they were renting, it opens up a rental unit. We look upon it as ‘Well, we’re going to help the Hawaiian community.’ The reality is if we help the Hawaiian community with Hawaiian homes, we help everybody in Hawai‘i.”

Please read full article here.