DHHL brief: new project-lease approach to enroll beneficiaries directly in developments

Acting Administrator Kalani Franda said the department is changing its sequence: rather than building housing and then prequalifying beneficiaries, applicants will choose a project and be issued a "project lease" tied to that development. "They just need to select a project that they want to be a part of. We will issue out a project lease, which is an undivided lease agreement that would be tied to that particular project," Franda said.

Franda said the department will then "partner with our service providers and conduct financial assessments" and, where needed, provide financial-literacy support so beneficiaries can prepare to purchase when possible. She framed this as a way to avoid bypassing applicants who might otherwise be excluded under the old approach; no statutory or procedural rule changes were cited in the transcript.