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Beneficiary urges DHHL to fix blood-quantum review, cites 40-year wait and missed communications
Summary
A longtime applicant told the Hawaiian Homes Commission that recent rechecks of her blood quantum while she moves to buy a home have upended a lifetime of expectations and exposed gaps in Department of Hawaiian Home Lands application and communication processes.
Kimbrije Kanani Onapua Abe, a beneficiary applicant who said she has been on the Hawaiian Homes wait list for more than 40 years, told the Hawaiian Homes Commission on March 18 that she was notified this year that DHHL staff were re-examining her blood quantum as she pursues buying a home — a review she says contradicts decades of prior documentation and oral assurances from family members.
Abe said she applied with her grandmother and was told repeatedly she met the 50% blood-quantum threshold required for beneficiary status, but staff in the applications unit have recently asked for additional genealogy documents after she began a property purchase. She told commissioners the requests and delayed communication have left her and her husband feeling “hurt” and “betrayed.”
The testimony matters because beneficiaries commonly rely on earlier department determinations to…
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