In a move designed to streamline the process of moving its beneficiaries off of its waitlist and into homes, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) signed the program’s first in-house building permit. Director Kali Watson signed off on the permit on Sept. 30, 2024, for the development of Yorktown, a transitional housing project at Kalaeloa.
According to Timothy Hu, DHHL program specialist, the department’s permitting process will follow the same framework utilized by the counties when processing and issuing building permits. “By granting the department the ability to process these permits independently, we relieve the counties of this burden, fast-tracking DHHL’s ability to expedite services to its beneficiaries,” said Hu in a DHHL press release.
The new permitting process is intended to quicken DHHL’s ability to develop over 20 Hawaiian homestead projects statewide. The DHHL waitlist has notoriously been plagued with backlogs, with beneficiaries often waiting years, even decades, before they are called to receive their homestead.
“This is a way in which we can help our beneficiaries, mainstream them, and get them into better living situations through the utilization of funds from the federal government,” said Cynthia Rezentes, DHHL’s NAHASDA Government Relations Program assistant manager in the press release.
Yorktown once served as quarters for visiting Naval personnel but the structures have been mostly unoccupied for many years. When the nearly $6.3 million renovation project is complete, the site will be home to 18 studio units, a community laundry facility and office space.
Units at Yorktown will be made available for houseless individuals on DHHL’s waitlist, provided they are below 80-percent of the area median income (AMI), as specified in the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act (NAHASDA).
Work at Yorktown is currently underway and projected to be completed in approximately six months, with additional time required for further site and infrastructure improvements. Doors are expected to open to residents late 2025.
