On July 11, 200 residential project leases were awarded for a new homestead in East Hawai‘i – Pana‘ewa – for the first time in more than two decades. A week later, the DHHL offered 824 project leases for three homestead communities on O‘ahu that included Waimānalo, ‘Ewa and Nānākuli. Awards in the department’s long-standing homesteads – Waimānalo and Nānākuli – have not been made since 2016 and 1996, respectively. Furthermore, O‘ahu is set to welcome a new homestead in the years ahead in ‘Ewa. The DHHL is set to award a record number of leases in 2026 – nearly 3,000 across the pae ‘āina.