Hawaiian Home Lands director to leave agency

A state agency working hard to reduce a massive waiting list for Native Hawaiian homesteads will have a new leader next year.

State Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Director Kali Watson announced on Friday that he will step down on Dec. 31 after a nearly four-year term.

Watson led the agency in advancing a pipeline of nearly 30 homestead subdivision projects using $600 million appropriated by the Legislature in 2022, and issuing leases for several thousand house lots. But he’s leaving the agency before the vast majority of those lots are created for DHHL beneficiaries to use.

In a statement, Watson thanked Gov. Josh Green for his support and the opportunity to serve.

“You understood that behind every name on our waiting list is a person, an ‘ohana and a hope that has too often been deferred,” Watson said. “Your commitment helped us move that mission forward.”

Green, who was recently reelected to a second four-year term that begins in January, said in a statement that Watson helped produce some of the most important work in his administration over the last four years.

“Kali Watson came back to public service to get more Native Hawaiian families onto their homelands,” Green said. “He brought urgency to a waitlist that has spanned generations and pushed homestead projects forward across the state.”

Watson said the 5,305 homestead leases offered by DHHL in Green’s first term was a record, and he credited and thanked staff for their contributions.

“Our administration has offered more than 5,200 Hawaiian homestead leases in just two years — equivalent to more than half of the approximately 10,000 leases offered over the previous 105 years under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act,” Watson said. “That’s historic progress toward fulfilling our commitment to Native Hawaiian families.”

Yet the vast majority of those leases are undivided land interest leases for projects that don’t yet have lots that lessees can occupy. Many of the lots for such leases are dependent on DHHL being able to receive more funding from the Legislature.

DHHL has projected that it can develop about 2,300 lots using most of the $600 million appropriation. Under Watson’s leadership, the agency has unsuccessfully sought another large infusion of funding from state lawmakers over the last few years to further advance about 30 projects slated for roughly 6,000 lots.

Next year, DHHL intends to offer nearly 4,900 more leases, for a total of over 10,000 leases in five years.

There is a big immediate benefit to awarding leases in advance of homestead lots being available, which is part of the reason DHHL has revived the practice of issuing undivided interest leases, also known as paper leases or project leases. Such leases can b e transferred from beneficiaries who die to relatives who aren’t eligible to receive a lease directly from DHHL.

Under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, beneficiaries must be at least half Hawaiian to be eligible for a homestead award, under which they receive land for $1 a year and must pay for or build their own home. But they can pass a lease to a family member with least 25% Hawaiian blood if the lessee dies. Such successors can’t get on DHHL’s waitlist in place of a beneficiary relative who dies with no lease.

Since the Hawaiian homesteading program was created by Congress in 1921 to return Hawaiians to their ancestral lands after the United States annexed the islands, at least 2,100 beneficiaries have died before receiving a lease. Meanwhile, there are about 30,000 beneficiaries on DHHL’s waitlist.

Watson did not provide a reason for his planned departure. He said he decided not to seek reappointment from Green for the governor’s second term. Watson said he looked forward to taking a short break and then returning to his previous role running a nonprofit affordable-­housing and commercial project development firm he founded, the Hawaiian Community Development Board.

This is the second time Watson has led DHHL. His first was from 1995 to 1998 under then-Gov. Ben Cayetano.

Sen. Jarett Keohokalole, chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, said he was disappointed by Watson’s planned departure and lauded Watson for his work.

“While his time leading DHHL is coming to an end, I know his commitment to the Hawaiian people will continue,” Keohokalole (D, Kaneohe-Kailua) said in a statement.

State Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board Chair Kaiali‘i Kahele also expressed appreciation for Watson’s leadership at DHHL, which included a recently signed pact for DHHL to develop around 450 condominiums for its beneficiaries mainly in two towers on OHA land in Kakaako Makai.

“Kali has devoted much of his professional life to addressing one of the most consequential challenges facing our lahui, ensuring that Native Hawaiian families have the opportunity to return to their ancestral lands and build a future for generations to come,” Kahele said in a statement.

Watson said he looks forward, from the private sector side, to exploring opportunities with OHA, private Hawaiian land trusts, community organizations and others on projects that benefit Hawaiians.