HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands broke ground Monday for the second increment of residential lots at Kauluokahai — a native Hawaiian master-planned community coming to Kapolei.

The $30 million construction phase will build 127 single-family residential lots along Maunakapu Street, just across from the Kroc Center and the new Kualakai Skyline station.

The community is being developed on a parcel that spans 404 acres across the Ewa Plains, and it will eventually also have multi-family homes and low-density apartments.

Owing to recent legislative backing, the construction project is one of many slated for this year by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. In July 2022, former Gov. David Ige signed Act 279, which appropriated $600 million to reduce what is currently a 29,000-resident long waiting list for Hawaiian Home Lands housing.

The historic funding to the department is an attempt to alleviate Hawaii’s housing crisis.

“It’s unfortunate because when you look at the Hawaiian people out there, we suffer so much in everything —whether its social, economic, cultural, or health-wise — it goes on and on,” said Director of Hawaiian Home Lands Kali Watson at the groundbreaking ceremony.

With greater funding, the department anticipates securing 2,700 lots for native Hawaiians by the end of 2023 through a multipronged approach.

It is also seeking to develop existing infrastructure and collaborating with Honolulu’s Habitat for Humanity to grant agency to homeowners in the construction of their own lot.

“The individuals on that waiting list will have options that will allow them to choose and participate in the process, rather than being bypassed as historically has been done in the past,” said Watson.

“That is no longer acceptable for this program.”