COURTESY PHOTO: BRIAN SCHATZ OFFICE
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led a roundtable discussion with local leaders about innovations and partnerships that are helping to expand housing access for Native Hawaiians.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D, Hawaii) met with local housing and Native Hawaiian leaders to discuss efforts to expand access to housing for Native Hawaiians amid Hawaii’s broader housing shortage.
Schatz, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, led a roundtable discussion focused on housing development, partnerships and potential policy changes that could help increase the supply of affordable homes.
“Hawaii’s housing crisis affects everyone, including Native Hawaiians,” Schatz said in a statement Sunday. “We simply have to make it easier to build housing. I appreciated hearing directly from leaders who are working every day to get more housing built about what we can do to help.”
Participants included state Rep. Kirstin Kahaloa (D, Captain Cook-Kealakekua-Kailua-Kona); Kali Watson, chair of the Hawaiian Homes Commission; Kuhio Lewis, president and CEO of the Hawaiian Council; Lee Wang, executive director of Housing Hawaii’s Future; and Damien Waikoloa, chapter lead of Hawaii YIMBY.
The discussion comes as Native Hawaiian families continue to face significant barriers to homeownership and affordable housing. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands has tens of thousands of applicants on its waitlist for residential leases, while Hawaii faces some of the nation’s highest housing costs.
Schatz has made changes to federal Native Hawaiian housing programs a focus of his work in the Senate.
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Earlier this year, Schatz and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, (R, Alaska), introduced the bipartisan Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Modernization Act of 2026, which would reauthorize and overhaul the federal Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act, or NAHASDA, through 2033.
NAHASDA is the primary federal law providing funding for affordable housing activities for American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities.
The proposed legislation would give tribal and Native Hawaiian housing programs greater flexibility in how federal housing funds are used, streamline federal requirements and expand access to safe and affordable housing.
The changes could affect how federal housing resources are administered and used to address housing needs for Native Hawaiians in Hawaii.
Schatz said discussions with local leaders are intended to identify ways federal policy can better support efforts already underway in Hawaii to build more housing.
The roundtable also brought together advocates from different parts of Hawaii’s housing sector, including government officials, Native Hawaiian housing leadership and organizations focused on increasing the state’s housing supply.