Read this article in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is honored for its 2020 inclusion in Ka Wai Ola. This new column, written by the Department’s Information and Community Relations office, will offer beneficiaries pertinent DHHL updates and information each month.
With 1,300 lots in the Department’s pipeline over the next five years, DHHL would like to introduce the column by highlighting the importance of updated contact information. Lot offers to beneficiaries are only made through United States Postal Service mail. Beneficiaries who do not have a current address on file with the Department will not receive the opportunity to be alerted of potential offerings.
Have you moved? Haven’t heard from the Department? We can only contact you if we have the best way to reach you. Make updating your mailing address with DHHL a priority by calling us and ensuring that your address is current.
The lots offered over the next several years will exemplify DHHL’s dedication to providing a varied inventory of lot options to beneficiaries, ultimately getting more native Hawaiians onto Hawaiian home lands. While the lots being offered will continue to include turn-key lots, which have been one of the greater desires of beneficiaries over the past several years, the Department has also heard the call for additional vacant lot offerings that allow beneficiaries the flexibility to build a home suitable to their needs. These homes could be anything from a tiny home to a multi-generational house and could have varied financing potential, including self-help and non-profit collaboration possibilities. In 2019, the Department began offering these types of lots in Kapolei, Oʻahu; Waimānalo, Oʻahu; and on Lānaʻi.
With a desire to increase the diversity of lots offered to those on the waitlist, the Department is also preparing to award Subsistence Agricultural lots on Oʻahu, Maui, and Hawaiʻi Island. These lots are smaller than traditional agriculture lots awarded by DHHL and have fewer requirements. Beneficiaries awarded the one-to-three-acre parcels will be able to conduct agricultural activities to support their families and community without the need for larger farm plans.
A multi-family option on Oʻahu and a rent-with-option to purchase in Kailua-Kona on Hawaiʻi Island are also underway as means to provide more options.
Want to check on the status of your address? Contact DHHL by phone at (808) 620-9500 to confirm your correct mailing addresses.
DHHL looks forward to the opportunity to connect with beneficiaries through this column each month and invites you to visit the Department’s website, dhhl.hawaii.gov/contact, to sign up to receive information directly to your inbox.
The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands carries out Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole’s vision of rehabilitating native Hawaiians by returning them to the land. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1921 with the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the Hawaiian homesteading program run by DHHL includes management of over 200,000 acres of land statewide with the specific purpose of developing and delivering homesteading.
