Maui fire relief housing program showing results
Aug. 23—A state service to connect Maui fire survivors with places to live other than hotel rooms is gaining traction.
Nearly 80 households displaced by the fire that destroyed nearly all of Lahaina have found single-family homes, condominiums and other more residential temporary accommodations rented from owners under the Hawaii Fire Relief Housing program.
The online listing platform hosted by the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. got up and running Aug. 14, and to date has drawn participation from landlords and property managers offering more than 900 properties mostly on Maui but also on other islands and even a few on the mainland, according to the agency.
HHFDC's referral service is in part designed to be a third organized stage for housing thousands of people displaced by the deadly wildfire that raced through Lahaina on Aug. 8.
The first stage was using several congregate emergency shelters in public facilities on Maui, and that was followed by making hotel rooms largely in Kaanapali available for private use by households who lost their homes in the fire.
Many evacuees also have been staying with family and friends, and in some cases in their cars or tents.
Around 2,200 structures in Lahaina were destroyed, and most of them were homes ranging from single-family properties to multistory apartment buildings.
As of Monday, Maui County reported that only three people remained at one congregate shelter and that more than 1,900 people displaced by the fire were living at six hotels through an effort coordinated by the American Red Cross and paid for directly by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Hotel room use is viewed as an interim step until longer-term housing options can be arranged. Therefore, Gov. Josh Green is urging property owners to offer available units to fire evacuees.
"Thanks in great part to FEMA, the American Red Cross, the visitor industry, Maui County and others, we are nearly done transitioning a large number of displaced Maui residents from emergency shelters at our gyms and community centers to the hotels who have graciously agreed to assist," Green said Tuesday in a statement. "But now the survivors will begin to turn their focus toward their next steps as they try to restore some semblance of normalcy to their lives. We humbly ask that those Hawaii homeowners and landlords who are able to open up their homes to our Maui survivors to show their aloha."
Green urged more property owners to join the effort and help survivors of the Maui disaster during their time of need.
FEMA is not directly paying for housing under HHFDC's Hawaii Fire Relief Housing referral program, though fire survivors can obtain money from FEMA, insurance and other aid sources to pay such rent.
Green said he hoped that property owners will charge minimal or no rent, though rental terms are left to agreement between the property owners and tenants. All the listings submitted to HHFDC are vetted for legitimacy before they are included on the site. Interested tenants are encouraged to provide their contact information to HHFDC for better assistance.
Michael Block, a Tacoma, Wash., resident who inherited a West Maui vacation rental condo from his late parents, put the oceanfront unit with one bedroom and one bathroom on HHFDC's fire relief housing website for between $1,000 and $2,000 a month to roughly break even on expenses.
"We felt called to do it," said Block. "It was just something to do to help the people of Maui."
Block, 62, said he has visited Maui almost every year since he was a teenager and that his mother lived in the condo part time during part of her life. "We just had to do something," he said.
Properties available through HHFDC's referral service include single-family homes, condos, apartments, vacation rental units, accessory dwelling units and individual rooms.
Monthly rent ranges from under $500 to over $3,000. Availability for some units is less than a month in some cases and over a year in others.
HHFDC said response to the program has been overwhelming and noted that it might take a while to return calls.
FIND HELP WITH HOUSING
>> Online: The listings are updated twice daily at dbedt.hawaii.gov/hhfdc.
>> Call: For those without internet access, a telephone hotline at 808-587-0469 can be used for landlords, property managers, homeowners or displaced residents to contact Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corp. staff for assistance or questions about the program from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.
>> Email: Interested participants may also email staff at hhfdcfirereliefhousing@hawaii.gov.
