LEO 'ELELE - TRUSTEE MESSAGES

OHA's real estate policy

Haunani Apoliona, MSW, Chairperson, Trustee, At-large

Aloha mai kākou e nā 'ōiwi 'ōlino mai Hawai'i a Ni'ihau a puni ke ao mālamalama.

On June 5, 2008, at OHA's Board of Trustee's meeting, by a vote of 7-0, Trustees appropriated $3 million annually to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands for the next 30 years. Hailed as “the most monumental, unprecedented action by OHA Trustees in OHA's 30-year history,” this OHA/DHHL partnership catapults forward development of lands for homesteaders and the 18 regional plans statewide. DHHL's newsletter Ka Nūhou, Volume 34, No. 3, Summer 2008, provides front-page focus on this OHA BOT action with a candid message from Chairman Kāne.

On June 6, 2007, almost a year to the day, the OHA Trustees took another milestone step adopting the Office Of Hawaiian Affairs Real Estate Vision, Mission and Strategy Policy. It is this Policy that from June 2007 forward guides all OHA decision-making on Real Estate.

The Vision Statement in the Policy notes, “The OHA real estate vision is to be the real estate partner of choice: by every person and entity with any involvement in Hawai'i lands: individuals, institutions, corporations, public purpose entities and government agencies; for any and every type of Hawai'i property and Property Involvement.” The Mission Statement says, “OHA shall protect and preserve Hawaii's lands and their cultural significance by: bridging the ancient use of lands with future land use patterns; advocating for land use and transaction practices and regulations congruent with the Hawaiian sense of place; creating financially viable Property Involvements.” The Strategy Section of the Policy says:

• “OHA will champion real estate best practices.” Elements include the best practices model, adoption of a real estate asset allocation model to include legacy lands, corporate real estate, programmatic lands, investment lands; adherence to a prudent investment standard, world-class strategic management, mandatory property standards; established priorities on types of Property Involvements and the Dual Priority for Economic and Cultural Concerns.

• “OHA shall seek portfolio expansion.” This strategy will examine lands that are not just ceded lands, working with partners in collaboration rather than independently trying to do it all, elevating the model of respect for land and honoring the Hawaiian Sense of Place, and advocate for superior land policy that can analyze and appraise property transactions to assess how the property and transaction may influence the Hawaiian Sense of Place.

• “OHA shall establish superior organization and infrastructure,” to include professional property investing and stewardship, strive for a world-class strategic management system.

• “OHA shall build a strong financial foundation for all Property Involvements,” providing organizational, management and financial support to facilitate the OHA Real Estate Strategy and provide that each important OHA property be managed by a separate legal entity and supported by an independent foundation; ensuring that analysis for capital investment decisions reflect risks and rewards; not setting arbitrary limits or pursuing one-size-fits-all capital budgeting contrary to Best Practices and further not setting an arbitrary capital spending ceiling, as that would be in conflict with fiduciary duties to beneficiaries.

The OHA Real Estate Vision, Mission and Strategy Policy guided decision-making by Trustees in lands identified for the 2008 legislation to resolve the “disputed payments” still due to OHA from income and proceeds of the Public Land Trust for the years 1978 to 2008. This same OHA policy will guide us in our return to the 2009 Legislature to pursue payment of these “disputed” amounts of past due income and proceeds from the Public Land Trust. Payment to OHA is the obligation of the State of Hawai'i; and the Hawai'i State Supreme Court affirms that is the primary obligation of the Legislature. Holomua i ka lanakila. 46/48