Close to 400 people attend a ceremony celebrating the selection of Hawaiian Homestead housing lots in Waikapu on Saturday at University of Hawai‘i Maui College. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

On Saturday, Mark Dean Kalalau and his wife, Lisa, were grateful to be among the 91 people to select a Hawaiian homestead house on Maui.

“I didn’t think this was going to happen in our lifetime,” said Kalalau, who was on the waiting list for 38 years.

Close to 400 people attended a Saturday event at the University of Hawai’i Maui College for phase II of the Pu’uhona Homestead project in Waikapu, the first Hawaiian Homes turnkey residential development on Maui in the last 17 years.

Mark and Lisa Kalalau have been selected to receive a lot at the Pu’uhona Project Phase II in Waikapu as part of a stepped-up effort to develop more housing for Hawaiian Homestead recipients. The couple had been on the waiting list for 38 years. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

The event comes at a time when many native Hawaiians and other Maui residents face record high rents, presenting them with a challenge to live here.

Population trends have been shifting with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting there are more native Hawaiians living on the U.S. continent than in Hawai’i.

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has issued 10,000 leases since the Hawaiian Homestead Act was created with more than 29,000 people on the waiting list.

Along with state legislators and county officials, Gov. Josh Green has supported moves to develop more Hawaiian Homesteads statewide.

“I’m going to say this from the heart. I am so sorry that for some reason for decades things didn’t get done the way they deserved to have been done,” Green told the audience. “It is time to move forward. There can be no excuses. That’s why I’m here today, to live up to this commitment.”

Gov. Josh Green pledges to move forward with more Hawaiian Homestead projects Saturday at The University of Hawai’i Maui College. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

Several different projects in Maui County have been designated for the development of Hawaiian homes.

Facing a dwindling population of native Hawaiians, congressional delegate Prince Jonah Kūhiō in 1921 successfully pushed to have federal lawmakers set aside some 200,000 acres for Hawaiians to build homes and cultivate farms on former Hawaiian crown and government lands.

The act provided 99-year leases at $1 a year. Recipients need to be at least 50% native Hawaiian in blood quantum.

Critics note much of the land back then was located in areas far from water lines and electricity, making the development of native Hawaiian settlements difficult.

A $600 million appropriation was passed in 2022 by the state legislature in an effort to reduce the number on the waiting list. According to the Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands, the agency plans to issue 7,500 leases statewide in the next several years.

On Maui, the 161-unit Pu’uhona includes 24 vacant improved single-family lots and 137 turnkey single-family residences. In phase I, homes with three to five bedrooms were made available in the price range of $509,000 to $699,000.

Other planned Hawaiian Homestead projects include 50 units at; 181 units at Leiali’i; 207 units in Wailuku; 311 units at Waiehu Mauka; and 400 at Kamalani.

On Molokai, the projects include 20 Ho’olehua agricultural lots; and 16 Na’iwa agricultural lots. On Lanai, plans call for 75 residential lots.

Those selecting lots Saturday said they were happy with the direction Hawaiian Homestead officials are going.

Several state legislators from Maui introduced the act in 2022, including state Reps. Kyle Yamashita, Troy Hashimoto, Tina Wildberger and Justin Woodson, and state Sens. Roz Baker, Lynn Decoite and Gil Keith Agaran.

“We don’t want people leaving Hawaii because they can’t afford to live here,” said Troy Hashimoto, now a state senator. “It’s the first of many projects.”

Wilhelm Bailey said he and his wife, Margaret, have been waiting for 60 years and are happy to be finally receiving a lot.

“This is really great,” Wilhelm said. “We’ve been on the list a long time. It’s really a blessing.”

Homestead recipient Lisa Kalalau said she knows a Hawaiian woman who was thinking of moving to Las Vegas because of the high rents on Maui until the woman received a lot at Pu’uhona.

John Kaupu and his wife, Sheena, said they feel like they are witnessing the re-establishment of Hawaiian homes as a legacy.

“It certainly does restore our hope,” Sheena Kaupu said.