Priced out of Paradise - Hawai’i to Utah | Full Documentary

Hawaii families build new lives in Utah while efforts grow to bring them home. Thousands of Hawaii families have relocated driven by the state's high cost of living but in Utah, many are maintaining strong cultural connections through businesses, religious networks and community organizations.

Keeping locals home is now a focus of many public and private groups and their efforts are starting to pay off. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands awarded 2,586 homes through October 2025, up nearly 3,000% from 84 homes awarded last year, following a $600 million legislative infusion.

Some families are successfully returning. Jade Mapuana Riley moved to Arizona so she could afford a home for her family. But this year, they were able to move back to Maui after being awarded the keys to a five-bedroom home in a new DHHL project in Wailuku. And she pays less for the mortgage than she did in Arizona. Riley had waited 38 years for the award as a beneficiary on the DHHL wait list.

Also getting her first home through the DHHL program, Kasey Amuro, who had applied for jobs in Texas, Colorado and Washington. She took her father’s place on the list after he passed in 2018.

"My dad didn't get to see this happen, and the least I could do was bring it up and take my right that he gave me," Amuro said.

A Honolulu Councilwoman, who lived in Utah for nearly 10 years before returning, is also promoting modular Plugin Houses as affordable housing solutions.

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