The Waimea Hawaii Homestead Association took a step last month to offer commerce and other development on homestead property, association officials announced Monday.
The association joined three other associations in the Homestead Community Development Corp., which helps the homestead groups pursue development projects that benefit the land trust.
“It allows the homestead associations, particularly the small and more rural ones, to work together,” Ti Leaf Group President Noe Kalipi said. “It creates one back office” and helps associations avoid duplicating work another association might already be doing in pursuit of similar development.
Ti Leaf Group is an advocacy group that works with the Homestead Community Development Corp. The other groups belonging to HCDC are Anahola Hawaiian Homes Association on Kauai, Kaupea Homestead Association on Oahu and a statewide association representing people on the waiting list for homesteads.
“Our association looked long and hard at whether we should form a standalone Community Development Corp. just for Waimea to implement our development projects, or whether HCDC would be a solid alternative,” WHHA President Mike Hodson said in a written statement. “At the end of the day, more is better, and collaborating with other homestead associations is a good fit for us as a more rural homestead.”