Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2003 — Q&A with Micah Kāne [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Q&A with Micah Kāne

Chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission anel director of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands

By Naomi Sodetani Nine months ago, Mieah Alika Kāne took the helm as director ofthe Deptartment of Hawaiian Home Lands - and, with it, the onus to fulfill Gov. Lingle's campaign promise to do what has been beyond the power of every administration since statehood: move thousands of Hawaiians off the wait list anā onto the land. Since its inception, the public trust has eome under fire from Hawaiians as a promise unfulfilled; from the federal government as a "broken trust"; from the state auditor as a quagmire of inefficiency; anā, recently, from enemies of Hawaiian entitlements as a racist institution. In 1999, a group of Hawaiians brought a " breach of trust" suit against DHHL for failing to complete the work of the individual claims panel established by the Legislature in 1992. Anā last March, 16 plaintiffs sued DHHL anā the Office of Hawaiian Affairs in Arakaki v. Lingle, alleging that the programs are un eon stitutional ly "race-based." Luckily, Kāine is a hard-working optimist who believes adversity brings opportunity. As former government liaison for the Building Industry Association, he represented the construction industry's interests. Coming from a Democratic family, he rose to heeome chair ofthe Republican Party during Lingle's earlier run for governor in 1996, anā was among the first appointees she tapped after her eleeūon. All eyes were on the 34-year-old Kamehameha grad with an MBA, wondering how he eoulā whip DHHL's house into order, when so many haā tried anā failed. KWO: Do you really Ihink you ean end the wait list in five years, as the governor has promised? MK: It's an extremely ambitious goal, but we're working very hard to achieve it. We've accelerated our efforts to provide every Hawaiian on the waiting list homeownership opportunities or some form of land stewardship. Our goal is to offer them something they ean afford. Nearly 50 percent of our people are low ineome; they fall below 80 percent of the median ineome, so they don't qualify for market loans. We just passed the largest development budget in the history of our department: $220 million over the next two years. We have some 30 projects that are planned for the next five years that represent thousands of awards for us. And there are major infrastructure commitments made in prior years that we need to fulfill. As of Dec. 31, there were 20,300 homestead applicants. Since then, we've awarded 7,298 leases and 42,112 acres for homesteads. So, minus estimated duplication, there are probably 11,000 to 15,000 now. Then we have a bunch of people on our list not qualified as 50 percent native. There's also an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Hawaiians who haven't applied yet. IIow will you meet that need? We'll give out land in several ways. Sometimes that means just a vacant lot that maybe they're not going to live on but ean pass on to their ehildren. We have people right now who are living in tents, building their homes, and it works for them. We'll give out rural lots, improved vacant

lots, turnkey lots. Also something called undivided interest, where you set aside a parcel of land, and people become part of the development process. And we have a pilot rent-to-own project in Kapolei that's fairly successful. We've got to find as many partners as possible willing to help us, because we can't do it alone. If counties or developers need to meet their

affordable housing requirement, we'll do it on our land, they've just got to pay us for it. They need to provide homes for people who fall under that 80 percent median ineome — and so do we. So rather than duplicate, we'll work together. We're aiming for self sufficiency. We get $30 million of settlement money every year to 2013. Right now, we generate about $8 million a year from our land management division that helps to fund our operations. The state general fund money that comes to our department represents only 10 percent of our ineome, and we generate

the rest. So we're aggressively trying to generate more funds, whether through federal dollars or general leases on the two percent of lands we've identified as income-generating properties. Historically, DHHL has often been neglected by the state. How is it now? It's the first time the department has truly got the support of the administration. The governor feels very strongly about fulfilling commitments to Hawaiians and has assured us the resources to accomplish our goals. The combination of Gov. Lingle, a Republican administration and seniority of our senators gives us tremendous opportunity to bring home federal housing dollars. We ean be a major catalyst for this state, to be an eeonomie engine in rural communities where eeonomie activity has been quite slow. Because all our lands are classified rural, we ean attract federal dollars to bring infrastructure, jobs and water into remote areas that otherwise would not be economically feasible for business to go in. Say we put up a wastewater treatment center in Ka'ū — that will benefit both native and adjoining non-native communities. I)o you see the Home Lands as a starting land base for the Hawaiian nation? That's for the Hawaiian people to decide. It makes sense, though, that the land base begin with the department's inventory. Basically, we're a small government already. We generate funds, we issue land, we manage lands, we manage roads, maintain our areas. We get a very small portion of our operating ineome from the general fund, the majority we generate ourselves. How will you address the individual claims suit? We're committed to bring closure to this, and we're weighing various options. Though reinstating the panel would allow claimants whose cases were not heard the opportunity to have their claims considered, this route is lengthy and expensive. We're open to considering all ideas to resolve the pending claims, whether through the panel, appointment of a special master, or another solution. Whal are the prospects for DHHL ifthe Arakaki suit against Hawaiian entitlements prevails? They won't prevail. I really believe that succeeding is our only option, because the alternative is unthinkable. Federal recognition is essential to protect our trust. What some people perceive as preferential programs, it will be etched in stone that, no question, they're legal. What legacy would you like to leave at DHHL? To do my part to fulfill Prince Kūhiō's vision of giving the Hawaiian people the best opportunity for rehabilitation. I went to Nānākuli Elementary a eouple months back, and all the kids in the class were homestead kids. It was pretty emotional realizing how mueh of a responsibility we have and what kind of role we play in the future of these kids. It was a pretty humbling reflection. I wake up every day excited about coming to work, I really do. I get paid to help our people. It's a great honor, and I take it to heart. ■

^ Kr)KĀKDKĀ