A new deal is good news for Native Hawaiian families struggling to find affordable homes close to the city.

• The Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Homelands signed an agreement to jointly develop a 3-acre lot in Kakaako.
• The plan calls for roughly 400 condo units, ranging from studios to larger family-sized homes, along with commercial and cultural space reserved for Native Hawaiians.
• OHA owns the land, DHHL brings development experience, and labor unions would supply the construction workforce.
• More Native Hawaiians now live on the U.S. mainland than in Hawaii, and 114,000 people are on the waitlist for homes, a situation leaders call an existential threat to the community staying in its homeland.

Outlook: The project still needs city and state approval and further details worked out, so construction is not imminent, but organizers say they intend to move quickly.