OHA seeks housing strategy consultant to advance Mana i Mauli Ola goals
In the face of Hawaiʻi’s deepening housing crisis, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is charting a path forward rooted in systems transformation, cultural alignment, and community resilience.
Through the Mana i Mauli Ola Strategic Plan, OHA has committed to increasing Native Hawaiian access to high-quality, affordable, and culturally relevant housing options across the pae ʻāina. As part of this journey, our Strategy & Implementation (S&I) Division is currently recruiting a housing strategy consultant to help us navigate this critical turning point.
Housing in Hawaiʻi is more than a policy issue; it reflects our collective health, stability, and sovereignty. For many Native Hawaiian ʻohana, secure housing remains out of reach, shaped by decades of dislocation, underinvestment, and systemic inequities.
Hawaiʻi currently ranks among the most expensive housing markets in the nation, with a median single-family home price exceeding $900,000 and a shortage of over 50,000 housing units statewide (Hawaiʻi Business Magazine, 2024). A recent UHERO report confirmed that while progress is being made, the pace of reform is not yet fast enough to address the scale of need (Hawaiʻi News Now, 2025).
The housing strategy consultant will play a pivotal role in helping OHA shift from reactive responses to proactive, community-informed housing solutions. This is not a conventional consultant role. It is a call for a systems navigator who can bridge innovation, Indigenous frameworks, and strategic planning. The consultant will help OHA strengthen pathways to non-traditional housing, such as ʻohana lots, multi-generational homes, accessory dwelling units, and co-operative land models. They will also support the advancement of policy alignment, inter-agency partnerships, and long-term infrastructure that reflects Native Hawaiian values.
Inspired by the concept of the muliwai – the rich estuaries where freshwater and saltwater meet – our recruitment approach is relational and intentional. We are seeking a collaborator who understands that true housing solutions require both technical skill and cultural fluency. The muliwai is a place of convergence, creation, and clarity. We believe that the right consultant will bring those same qualities to this role.
The consultant will also contribute to the design of scalable pilot programs matched with policy change. These efforts come at a time when small policy wins at the state level are offering renewed hope but require coordinated implementation to benefit Native Hawaiian communities equitably (Hawaiʻi Appleseed, 2025).
If you, or someone you know, is called to this work, we invite you to consider this opportunity to help shape the future of housing for the lāhui. Together, we can reclaim the systems that were not designed to serve us and transform them into pathways home.
To inquire about this position, please visit our OHA employment opportunities at oha.org/jobs.
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