Hawaii renters sue to stop ‘blood quantum’-based evictions from homes

News Release from Pacific Legal Foundation, July 27, 2026

Honolulu, Hawaii July 27, 2026: Two Kaua‘i renters filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging a state agency policy that would evict them from their homes because they do not meet a government-imposed ancestry requirement. David Kalahiki and Linda Twitchell allege that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ blood-quantum rule violates their rights by conditioning housing on ancestry.

“No one should lose their home because a government agency decides they have the wrong bloodline,” said Noelle Daniel, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “The government cannot divide people by ancestry and then use that classification to take away basic security. David and Linda deserve the freedom to remain in their homes without unconstitutional burdens based on their heritage.”

David and Linda live at the Courtyards at Waipouli, an apartment complex on Kaua‘i that the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands (DHHL) purchased in late 2025. DHHL aims to convert the building into a rent-to-own program reserved for residents who meet a 50% native Hawaiian “blood-quantum” requirement. Current residents who do not meet that requirement face immediate eviction. Because Linda is not native Hawaiian, and David is 25% native Hawaiian, neither qualifies under the agency’s rule. Both have received eviction notices based solely on this blood requirement.

Their lawsuit challenges DHHL’s ancestry-based eviction policy under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. A victory would allow Waipouli residents to stay in their homes without proving their bloodline and would reaffirm that government cannot allocate housing based on ancestry.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Kalahiki and Twitchell free of charge. The case is David Kalahiki and Linda Twitchell v. Kali Watson.

HNN: DHHL sued over evictions of non-Native Hawaiians in East Kauai project | Hawaii News Now