The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has been steadily working to spend the historic $600 million approved by the Legislature in 2022 to develop homesteads and reduce a waitlist that has grown to about 29,000.

Meanwhile, Kali Watson, the director of DHHL and the chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, is adding to his legislative wish list with an ambitious agenda that includes extending by a year a June 30 deadline to encumber the funds to ensure the agency can still use the money should delays arise.

While about one-third of the $600 million has been committed to current and future projects, it takes time to release and appropriate the monies and to put developers or other vendors under contract, Watson said.

Watson is also pushing for more influence on powerful boards and commissions with bills proposing that a member of the Hawaiian Homes Commission — Watson himself or a designee — be placed on the Commission on Water Resource Management, the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. and the Hawaii Community Development Authority.

That would give the Hawaiian Homes Commission, the nine-member board that oversees DHHL, more sway over water usage and the building of homes.

“I think our particular administration has taken a very aggressive legislative approach this year because there’s a lot of things that are happening, and especially with the implementation of the 600 million,” he said.

The $600 million included in Act 279 in 2022, he said, only goes so far in addressing the waitlist.

“But, in lieu of that, there’s certain things that might help facilitate addressing the long waiting list, such as adding the director and chairman of the commission to these various boards,” he said.

Other bills would do the following:

• Allow DHHL to provide cash awards to beneficiaries on the waitlist in lieu of a lease.
• Authorize a lease award program for people on the list who are 60 or older or terminally ill.
• Allow qualified successors of beneficiaries who died before receiving a lease to file a claim for the lease.
• Exclude from the waitlist any lessee or successor who sells or transfers their lease for personal gain.
• Increase the loan limit for a lease award from 50% to 75%, the maximum single residence loan amount allowed by the federal government.
• Extend the loan terms for leases from 30 years to 40 years.
• Permit the commission to retain independent legal counsel.
• Let the department set up a compliance and enforcement program to investigate complaints and conduct investigations.
• Give the department nonexclusive authority to enforce state and county statutes and rules.
• Permit the department to assume historic preservation review of proposed project for lands under its jurisdiction, with some exceptions.
• Make permanent the department’s exemption of housing developments from school impact fees.

Some of the ideas have been proposed before and failed at the Legislature, and Watson acknowledges the breadth of the legislation. But he and supporters expressed hope the agency will benefit from the emphasis on Hawaii’s housing crisis.

Watson has among his supporters Gov. Josh Green, who appointed him to his position, and the Native Hawaiian Caucus at the Legislature. Key lawmakers introducing the bills include Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole and Rep. Daniel Holt.

“I think he’s done well,” said Keohokalole, who introduced the DHHL package last year. “Some of these measures have been introduced over and over again and have not been successful. But I think there is a different posture with this new administration and their focus on housing.”

The senator said it’s clear that DHHL has become a major housing developer in Hawaii over the past 15 years, even as it struggles to meet its mandate to beneficiaries.

“But Kali is thinking like a developer — he has met deadlines, he wants to finish on time and then he wants to ask for more money,” said Keohokalole. “It’s his job to advocate for more money, and I will never be offended by that request.”

In an indication that many legislators agree with the importance of the DHHL bills, no less than four separate hearings are set for this week, including a slew of bills to be heard Tuesday by the Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs.

One idea Watson particularly likes is a bill requiring DHHL to assess the feasibility of digitizing its applicant, beneficiary and lessee records and creating an interactive digital database software program. He said that making such records readily accessible would be a major step forward in getting projects built and beneficiaries into new homes.

Sen. Lynn DeCoite introduced the digitization bill, which has Keohokalole’s support.

Watson said he would love another $600 million to do his work, but he recognizes the financial limits despite the urgency.

“You have a whole ton of people on our waitlist that are dying every day,” he said. “So, yeah, there’s this sense of emergency and it’s just part of what the program is about. It’s about addressing this horrible situation that’s lasted over a hundred years.”