A giant-sized $3 million check represents the first payment toward a decades-long project putting more Native Hawaiians in affordable homes.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs presented the check to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands on Thursday. It’s the first of 30 annual payments that the agencies agreed on last year.
The money will be used to build infrastructure for more than 300 home lots across Hawaii. Congress created the Hawaiian homes program in 1921, which allows Native Hawaiians to get land leases for $1 a year.
About $42.5 million in revenue bonds were issued to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands in March.
Trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs voted unanimously last summer to pay the $3 million a year to cover debt service on the bonds.