Federal land in Ewa Beach recently transferred to the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust to settle a longstanding $16.9 million debt could potentially provide up to 400 homesteads for Native Hawaiian families, according to a recent announcement.
The 80 acres at the former NOAA Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on O'ahu could provide between 200 and 400 homesteads, according to the joint announcement released June 14 by the U.S. Interior and Commerce Departments.
"Residential lots on O'ahu are of the highest demand from applicants on the waiting list," Hawaiian Homes Commission Chairman William J. Aila Jr. said in the announcement. "This land transfer is an opportunity for beneficiaries that [are] truly in line with the spirit of the Hawaiian Home Lands Recovery Act (HHLRA)."
The path to DOI's announcement began in 1998 when the department and the State of Hawai‘i identified the site at the tsunami warning center under the HHLRA, passed by Congress in 1995.
Five years later, that site became unavailable, which left $16.9 million owed by the United States to the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust.
Another two decades would pass before the General Services Administration notified the State of Hawai'i that the 80 acres was again available.
The June 14 announcement means that the property transfer finally happened.
"The Native Hawaiian Community has waited more than 20 years for the federal government to address a $16.9 million credit owed by the United States to the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust," Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in the announcement. "Today's action is an important step in our commitment to resolving the Hawaiian Home Lands Recovery Act settlement. We thank the Department of Commerce, General Services Administration, State of Hawai‘i and Native Hawaiian Community members who provided their input during consultation on this transfer."
The most recent announcement came less than a month after the Interior Department pointed out that President Joe Biden's Fiscal Year 2022 Budget, expected to be passed by reconciliation, would make "significant Investments" in the department. Those investments would include $4.2 billion – an increase of $727.8 million over fiscal year 2021 – across all Indian Affairs programs in Interior Department.
That additional money would support a new Indian Land Consolidation Program to address fractionated lands and enhance Tribal governments' ability to plan for, and adapt, to climate change and to build stronger Tribal communities, according to DOI's May 28 announcement.
"The budget will also provide increases to strengthen Tribal natural resource programs, Tribal public safety and efforts to provide leadership and direction for cross-departmental and interagency work involving missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native peoples," the May announcement said.
