Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ 656-acre project of farms, homes, public spaces in Maui moves forward

When Sam Akoi IV’s mother passed away 15 years ago, she had been on the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list since roughly the 1980s. 

Now Akoi and his father are on the list, waiting for agricultural and pastoral lands. His family, which has deep ties to East Maui, knows all too well the struggle of languishing in line for a shot at a lease from the department. 

So when Akoi sees plans moving forward for a 656-acre development in Hāna that will offer a mix of agricultural homesteads, kūpuna housing and community spaces, he’s excited for all families in the area. 

“It’s going to be beautiful to have our kānaka back on the ‘āina,” Akoi said. 

The project in the Wākiu area will take place on a vacant swath of land mauka of Hāna Highway, across the street from Hāna High and Elementary School and the Hāna Public Library, according to a final environmental assessment of the master plan released Sunday.

Plans call for 78 residential lots of one acre each; 65 subsistence agricultural lots of one to three acres each, with the option to build a home on the property; four pastoral lots of about 10 acres each, along with community pastoral space; and 30 units of kūpuna housing on a total of 6.5 acres. 

Part of the project may also include 31 three-acre agricultural homesteading lots under the department’s Kuleana Homesteading program, which allows awardees to get onto the land right away with the caveat that the department doesn’t provide any improvements. 

Other uses will include 18.3 acres for a community center and park, 12.6 acres for a charter school and community garden, 11.6 acres of greenways and community gardens, 7.7 acres for a cemetery and about 2.5 acres for a second community center. Another 32.3 acres are designated for a solar energy system. 

The project will also set aside 138.8 acres for conserving hala and kukui groves that are already in the area and significant to the community. 

And, there will be commercial space for retail, convenience stores and food trucks, and an industrial area for boating and machinery care. 

The project has earned praise from community members, but it’s not without its challenges. Jade Alohalani Smith, founder and director of the Wākiu Community Development Corporation that has worked for years to drum up feedback and interest in the project, said that some people have misgivings over bringing a Department of Hawaiian Home Lands project to the area due to concerns it would attract an influx of people from other areas and strain the town’s limited resources.

But East Maui needs housing, especially for the many multigenerational households living under one roof, said Smith, a lineal descendant of the area. Hoping to find a solution, she started the organization in 2019, modeled off the Pā‘upena Community Development Corporation that serves Upcountry Maui’s homesteading community. They held workshops and gathered public feedback that included farm plan drawings from community members. 

In September 2022, the Wākiu Community Development Corporation met with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to discuss a master plan for the area. At first, it started as a joint effort to plan for multiple communities in East Maui, but after Ke‘anae and Wailuanui homestead residents said they did not want to move forward with their plans at the time, the efforts narrowed to the Wākiu area, the assessment said.

The Wākiu project area was part of a 16,800-acre transfer of land from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands as a result of 1995 settlement claims that sought to make up for the state’s historic misuse of DHHL lands, according to the project documents. Lands in Ke‘anae and Wailuanui also were included.

Planning, public outreach and collection of indigenous knowledge of the Wākiu area went on for more than a year and wrapped up with workshops in April 2024. The draft environmental assessment was published in February and the final version this month. 

Akoi, the president of the Wākiu Community Development Corporation board, is excited the project has reached this stage. For years, he said, it felt like Hāna “wasn’t even on the map” for Department of Hawaiian Home Lands projects. He saw people move to Central and Upcountry Maui or even off island for their chance at a lease. Now, he feels the community has a project that reflects their ideas and way of life. 

“Growing (food) is who the people are,” he said. “The people in Hāna are gatherers and fishermen and hunters. They do lāʻau lapaʻau. They grow taro. They grow watercress. It’s all sustainable living out there.”

Akoi is a graduate of Hāna High and Elementary School who can trace his family history in East Maui back seven-plus generations on both of his parents’ sides. But he’s worried about his kids getting a chance to inherit land. The 57-year-old says he thinks Native Hawaiians his age are “the last generation of the 50%” blood quantum needed to qualify for a homestead lease. 

Akoi said he is about 82% Hawaiian, and his kids are about 41%, just missing the cut. He also has 15 grandkids and three great-grandchildren. He thinks the threshold should drop to at least a quarter.

That’s also a concern of Claire Carroll, who lives just across the street from the Wākiu master plan area. She is 50% Native Hawaiian and worries about enough people in East Maui getting a chance to qualify for the project. 

“Hopefully the laws change soon so that our children can benefit from getting a home one day,” said Carroll, who’s not on the list because she has a home of her own. 

Carroll, who grew up riding horses lent to her family on the backroads of the project area, said she also hopes the project doesn’t impact the water table, which the Hāna community relies on, and that they will install infrastructure such as proper sidewalks for the growing neighborhood and the nearby school. 

The department said in the final assessment that many community members have brought up concerns about the blood quantum requirements and that it is currently reviewing its rules with plans to propose updates in early 2026. 

The project’s assessment did not include a timeline, saying this would depend on approvals for environmental and construction work permits from county, state and federal agencies. It’s expected to move forward in four phases, with the first phase including the hala forest, kuleana subsistence agricultural lots, some of the residential lots and the greenway/community garden. 

Smith is optimistic there will be enough people to qualify for the project. She said her organization kept a list of people who were interested, which has gone from more than 200 to about 150 as people move out or pass away. 

Smith, who currently raises about 75 heads of cattle on 100 acres in Kaupō with her husband, said there is a need for pastoral land in East Maui. She is hoping to wind down her operations — “getting older,” she explained — and get onto a smaller pastoral lot in Wākiu if possible. 

She likes that the project has a mix of housing, farming and ranching. For her, it all comes down to making sure the next generation has the opportunities they need. 

“Put yourself in our situation — your kids need homes, right?” she tells people who are hesitant about the department bringing projects to the area. “You may be good, but others are not. … And what makes a good community is everybody is doing good.”

Maui County Council Member Shane Sinenci, who holds the East Maui residency seat, said it’s especially important that Department of Hawaiian Home Lands projects are rooted in pilina, the sense of connection and relationship to the land, and built for people who live in that community. He’s hopeful that people who have had to leave East Maui because there weren’t Hawaiian homestead opportunities will eventually be able to come back.

“The more we fail to house Native Hawaiians, the more we fail to establish home equity and generational wealth through homeownership,” he said.