DHHL OPENS COMMENT PERIOD FOR DRAFT GENERAL PLAN

News Release from DHHL, Aug 2, 2022

(Kapolei, Oʻahu) – The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) is seeking native Hawaiian beneficiary input on its Draft General Plan. DHHL’s General Plan, updated every 20 years, establishes statewide policies that guide land management and programs over the next two decades. The Department last updated its General Plan in 2002.

Homesteaders and applicants on the DHHL Waiting List can submit their comments online or in-person at eight open house events scheduled between August 4, 2022, and August 22, 2022, statewide. The deadline for input is September 21, 2022.

The Department’s General Plan provides a comprehensive policy that ensures coordinated and integrated orderly social, physical, and economic development of Hawaiian Home Lands. It establishes goals and objectives that guide the implementation of the program. The plan is followed by detailed Island and Regional plans that are updated on a rotating basis and on their respective timetables.

“It is critical that beneficiaries take part in shaping DHHL’s General Plan,” said Deputy to the Chair Tyler Iokepa Gomes. “This document will guide the direction and use of trust lands over the next couple of decades so we’re making every effort to ensure that the goals and objectives of this plan are a reflection of the community it intends to serve.”

A final General Plan document is anticipated to be presented to the Hawaiian Homes Commission for adoption before the end of the year.

To view a schedule of the upcoming Open House events, comment on the Draft General Plan, or learn more about DHHL’s planning system, visit dhhl.hawaii.gov/po/general-plan-2022.

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About the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands:

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands carries out Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole’s vision of rehabilitating native Hawaiians by returning them to the land. Established by U.S. Congress in 1921, with the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the Hawaiian homesteading program run by DHHL includes management of over 200,000 acres of land statewide with the specific purpose of developing and delivering homesteading.