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Ho‘okele

Home Program

The Ho‘okele Home Program was created to help native Hawaiian families buy or build homes on Hawaiian Home Lands. “Ho‘okele” means to to navigate or steer, and we serve as your personal guide throughout this process, ensuring you have the support, resources, and confidence you need to reach your homestead goals.

Personalized technical assistance

Build a Home
– Explore house plan options
– Create a realistic construction budget
– Connect with trusted contractors and lenders
– Complete DHHL and county permitting paperwork
– Stay on track from groundbreaking to move-in

Buy a Home
– Understand available homes for sale on Hawaiian Home Lands
– Get pre-approved for a home loan
– Work with realtors and lenders who understand the process
– Navigate title transfer, escrow, and closing
– Access financial education and down payment assistance

Frequently Asked Questions

The Hoʻokele Home Program supports beneficiaries looking to either build or buy homes on Hawaiian Home Lands. For those building, we offer step-by-step guidance, loan readiness support, and connections to trusted contractors and suppliers through our Kūkulu Partner Program. For those buying, we provide specialized mortgage products, loan readiness support, and access to trusted professionals and resources through the Kūkulu Partner Program to help you find and purchase your home successfully.

For those looking to build, eligibility includes any Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary who has been awarded, succeeded, or currently holds a lease for a lot without an existing dwelling. For those looking to buy, eligibility requires being at least 50% native Hawaiian as defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act or already on the Hawaiian Home Lands waitlist.

Hawaiʻi Community Lending offers specialized loan products designed for Hawaiian Home Lands, including construction and mortgage options. We always complete a client assessment first to review your financial situation, goals, and eligibility. In some cases, we may refer you to other programs, such as NAHASDA (Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act) through the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, to ensure you have access to the most advantageous products available. No one should disqualify themselves—there’s almost always a solution for families, no matter their situation.

You’ll need your Hawaiian Home Lands lease, picture identification, birth certificate, updated paystubs, bank statements, tax returns, and other financial documentation. It’s important to keep paystubs and bank statements current as they expire month to month. Submitting requested documents within 1–2 days is ideal, so it’s important to keep them updated and easily accessible at all times.

Mai hopohopo (don’t worry) – our motto is “We don’t say no, we say how,” and that’s what we’ll do. We’ll work with you to create a Construction Readiness Plan outlining all steps in your home build process. Hawaiʻi Community Lending has partnered with Hawaiian Community Assets to help you meet savings, budget, and credit score goals to become construction and mortgage loan qualified. If you’re not ready right now, it may take some work to get everything in place—but the answer isnʻt no. This is another purpose the Construction Readiness Plan serves: to create a clear path to get you on track. We have the tools, expertise, and support to help you course-correct and move forward with your build.

Yes! Hawaiʻi Community Lending offers debt consolidation loans and credit builder loans. During your client assessment, the Navigation Specialist will review your options and include next steps in your Client Implementation Plan. If you need to build credit, we can help with a credit builder loan. These recommendations are paired with a referral to Hawaiian Community Assets, where you’ll work with a financial counselor to reduce debt, create a household budget, and improve credit throughout the construction process and beyond.

If your contractor is not part of the Kūkulu Partner Program, they will need to apply to become a Kūkulu Partner (including an application process and required documentation) and complete a Builder Training held through Hawaiʻi Community Lending. By completing the Builder Training, your contractor will be certified as a HUD184A builder and will be a trusted community partner through the Kūkulu Partner Program.

Once pre-construction is complete, your project transitions to our Lending Team, who will start your construction loan application, guide you through the financing process and oversee construction draws.

 

The time it takes to build a home tailored to your specifications is similar to the timeline for a turn-key (ready-built) home. The difference is that you have the autonomy to choose your home plans and decide on the specifications of your home. If requested documents are submitted quickly, the timeline can improve. Typically, the process takes about 18–24 months if everything goes smoothly with minimal delays.

Delays in starting construction often stem from decisions families need to make, such as selecting home plans that fit their budget, adjusting the project budget to meet expectations, permitting delays, and paperwork that must be approved by the Department Hawaiian Home Lands and heard in front of the Hawaiian Homes Commission before we receive the green light to close on your construction loan. That loan closing is what clears you to start building.

When delays occur, we have a dedicated team to keep your project moving forward. Our program is designed to prepare you early, so when it’s time to make decisions, you’re ready.

Although construction is complete, final inspections are complete and the certificate of occupancy is issued, you cannot move in until your permanent mortgage financing is finalized. At the time of construction loan closing, you’ll sign a document acknowledging this requirement. It’s crucial that both the homeowner and contractor fully understand this, which is why contractors must become Kūkulu Partners. The Builder Training covers all requirements to ensure everyone involved is on the same page.

A construction loan is a short-term loan that funds the building of your home, releasing funds in phases as construction progresses. A mortgage loan is long-term financing that pays off the construction loan and becomes your permanent loan.

Navigating ‘ohana home

We know that navigating the homebuying or building process can be confusing and overwhelming. That’s why we’re here: to walk with you, every step of the way.

Who is this program for?

The Ho‘okele Home Program is for Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiaries who:
– Have been awarded (or are in the process of being awarded) a residential, agricultural, or pastoral lease
– Are looking to build a home on a vacant lot
– Are looking to build a Supplemental Dwelling Unit (SDU) or Additional Dwelling Unit (ADU)
– Want to purchase an existing home on Hawaiian Home Lands
– Need help understanding the steps to financing, designing, permitting, and moving in
– Feel stuck, unsure, or overwhelmed by the process

Why choose Ho‘okele?

– We understand the process: We’ve helped dozens of beneficiaries move forward with buying or building
– Simplifying the journey: We simplify paperwork, explain complex steps, and help align you with a team that suit your needs
– Community focused: Our mission is to see more native Hawaiian families living successfully on the land

Ready to Get Started?

Let Ho‘okele be your guide to home. Whether you’re ready to build, buy, or just need help figuring out where to start—we’re here for you.

Contact us to meet with a Navigation Specialist

About Chanel Josiah

Chanel was born and raised on Oʻahu and now resides on Kaua’i with her husband and seven children. As a 5th-generation Hawaiian Home Lands lessee and homeowner, she has firsthand knowledge of the challenges families face in accessing housing, financial opportunities and resources both on and off homesteads. Her lived experiences and professional expertise inspire her passion for supporting others and strengthen her commitment to helping local and native Hawaiian families secure and sustain homes on their ancestral ‘āina, building lasting stability for themselves and generations to come.

Chanel also serves as the Board President of Pa‘a Lima, a nonprofit organization that offers support services and education to address houselessness, mental health challenges, financial literacy, and income instability. The organization is committed to breaking generational cycles and changing lives, with a special emphasis on supporting youth aging out of foster care.

As Operations Director, Chanel oversees marketing, community engagement, technical assistance, and operations. A key aspect of her role is connecting directly with communities to understand their needs and challenges. Drawing on her personal and professional experiences, Chanel approaches these challenges holistically, blending diverse perspectives to create innovative strategies that drive meaningful and lasting change for the communities she serves. “I’m grateful to be able to share our organization’s moʻomeheu (culture), moʻolelo (story) and kaunu (passion) with communities across Hawaiʻi, partners and investors who believe in the work we do.”

Chanel is inspired by her keiki, motivating her dedication to ensuring they can build their futures here in Hawai’i. She is also inspired by her tūtū kāne, Robert William Kalanihiapo Wilcox. “He was a fearless kānaka ‘ōiwi champion who encompassed the spirit of aloha ‘āina – the love of his land, and home just as we do now.” Outside of work, Chanel enjoys reading, practicing hula, and spending time at the beach with her ʻohana.


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About Aikū’ē Kalima

Aikū’ē Kalima, former Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund Manager for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, joins Hawaiʻi Community Lending as its lending director.
Kalima comes to HCL with more than 25 years of experience in community development and mortgage lending. In his new position, Kalima will direct HCL’s consumer, construction, mortgage and small business lending.
“As a native Hawaiian and Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary, I understand the financial needs for economic development and quality housing for kānaka is great,” said Kalima, who led OHA’s deployment of $9.8 million in loans to 286 native Hawaiians statewide over the last five years. “For over 25 years, I have worked tirelessly at the grassroots level, educating kānaka on the skills necessary to achieve the dream of homeownership and providing resources to achieve financial sustainability. I plan to continue serving the lāhui empowering ‘ohana and communities as the lending director for Hawai‘i Community Lending.”
Kalima takes the reins of HCL’s $16-million revolving loan fund and will oversee a team of seven staff members statewide. “HCL is honored to have Aikū’ē join us in our mission to help tackle our housing crisis by funding native Hawaiian and local families to build, buy and save homes from foreclosure,” said HCL Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath. “He has proven leadership in both the public and private sectors and has the passion to get families on the land through homeownership.”


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About Sean

Sean Perez loves hearing about the great things Hawai‘i Community Lending is doing for the Hawaiian community. And now as HCL’s new director of finance, he is excited to be part of the team making it happen.

“I enjoy hearing the success stories of new homes that we will soon be building and finding for these families,” he says. “HCL’s mission resonates well with me and my passion to help others and assist our community.”

To this end, Sean will manage HCL’s finances, accounting, compliance, and information technology matters; working with HCL Executive Director Jeff Gilbreath and supervising three division managers. He comes to HCL with over eight years of experience in financial management in the nonprofit and private, for-profit sectors having worked in the legal, social service, health, and telecommunications industries as well as with the US Attorney’s Office of Guam and CNMI. In his previous job as director of operations for the Hawai‘i State Bar Association where he was responsible for directing the organization’s finances, Sean grew his experience in nonprofit financial management and gained extensive background in accounting, grants management, IT and human resources. These skills, in conjunction with his drive to work with the Hawai‘i community through nonprofit assistance, led Sean to HCL.

Currently living in Honolulu, Sean was born in Tamuning, Guam. When he was 10 years old, he moved to Oxnard, Calif., where he attended school and eventually community college. The Air Force Reserves beckoned him after graduation, leading him to serve three and a half years as an aircrew flight equipment technician at March Air Reserve Base. After his military service, Sean returned to his childhood home of Guam, where he went to college to obtain a degree in finance and economics, and then to pursue an MBA.

On O‘ahu, Sean enjoys family life with his fiancée and toddler son; fishing and surfing in his time off. “I look forward to accomplishing great things with HCL and creating new success stories,” he says.


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About Nikki

Nikki Hollern is a mother of five, born and raised in Upcountry Maui, but she spent the last 15 years in the beautiful town of Lahaina. Lahaina stole her heart, with the people and the town being unlike any other. After the fire, her family had to relocate to Kahului.

Her heart remains in Lahaina, and her goal is to help this amazing community get back to where they belong. She feels blessed to have the opportunity to be part of the HCL ‘ohana, helping navigate this incredibly hard time and hopefully serving as a guiding light to assist the community in returning home and coming back even stronger.


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