DHHL briefing: agency projects accelerated lease issuances to reduce 29,000-person waitlist

Acting Administrator Kalani Franda of the Land Development Division said the department is moving to speed up lease issuances to address a large backlog of applicants. "By looking at these numbers, roughly about 50% of our applicants are over the age of 65," she said, adding that "we had mentioned that we have about 29,000 on the wait list." Franda said the department has issued about 10,000 leases over the past century but is now scaling up activity.

Franda provided recent activity figures and a near-term projection: "Last year alone, we did about 2,400 project leases," she said, and the department is projecting an issuance and awarding "of about 3,000 project leases" before year end. She described a target to "address the issuance of about 20,000 in this next 4 years," framing the projection as an administration priority rather than a completed action. No formal vote or funding appropriation was reported during the briefing; Franda characterized these as program targets tied to administrative direction.