Hawaii's Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is turning to factory-built modular homes to finally clear a decades-long waiting list, a win for Native Hawaiian families who've waited since the 1970s for land they were promised.

• The department just awarded 24 house lots in West Oahu, with some recipients waiting since 1977; modular construction let crews put up a complete home in about two weeks instead of the usual long stick-built timeline.
• The homes come with appliances already installed (washer, dryer, fridge, solar, water heater, AC), so families move in ready to live, not mid-renovation.
• About 29,000 people remain on the waiting list and many are elderly, so officials say speed matters because people are dying before they ever get a home.
• The department wants to build its own factory on its own land in Kapolei and even plans to harvest invasive eucalyptus trees on the Big Island for lumber, aiming to keep union jobs and production local.
• The bigger holdup is money: officials say the full waiting list needs about $6 billion in infrastructure funding, though the governor has been shifting budget resources and unused state land toward the effort.

Outlook: More projects are lined up for 2027, but how fast homes get built will depend on securing infrastructure funding and standing up the in-house factory.