More Maui housing options in works as some 2,700 survivors fill hotel shelters

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Red Cross and local community members are assisting survivors of the devastating wildfires on Maui, which destroyed over 2,200 structures, the majority of them homes. The housing needs are exceeding local capacity, but more options are coming.

With tourism to West Maui still strongly discouraged, hotels have played a key role in helping get displaced residents, including about 700 of their own employees, out of temporary shelters. As of Wednesday, Maui County was reporting that there were one evacuation shelter and 11 hotel shelters open.

Maui County said the American Red Cross has helped place about 2,700 people at hotel shelters, including Hyatt Regency Maui, Royal Lahaina, Honua Kai Outrigger, Outrigger Kaanapali Beach Resort, Aston Ka‘anapali Shores, Fairmont Kea Lani, Westin Maui, Andaz Maui at Wailea Resort, Maui Beach Hotel, Maui Seaside Hotel and the Aston Maui Ka‘anapali Villas.

Displaced residents must register with FEMA to qualify for hotel shelter placement.

Gov. Josh Green’s housing task force, led by state Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director Jimmy Tokioka and Luke Meyers, disaster management coordinator for the Office of the Governor, is creating a parallel program to serve those who do not qualify for FEMA.

A variety of mid- to longer-­term housing programs and funding designed to help Maui are underway. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $1.3 million to the state Wednesday through the department’s Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing program, which is designed to fill gaps in federal disaster assistance for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness.

HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said in a statement, “Before the wildfires, Hawaii already had a housing crisis — one that disproportionately impacts Native Hawaiians. HUD is closely monitoring the impact of this disaster on local housing needs, and this funding will fill the gap to ensure the state of Hawaii has what it needs to support people experiencing homelessness.”

Green and Airbnb.org, a nonprofit that provides emergency stays for people affected by large-scale crisis, recently announced a partnership that could provide temporary housing to at least 1,000 displaced Maui residents.

Airbnb.org staff were at the Lahaina Gateway Shopping Center on Wednesday and Thursday and will return from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today to work with the state Department of Human Serv­ices to connect individuals to free, temporary stays with Airbnb hosts.

Donations to Airbnb.org provide funding for emergency stays; however, Airbnb hosts who are willing to offer free or discounted housing help stretch the funding to house more people. The nonprofit also is recruiting Maui residents who have the space to join the effort. Visit 808ne.ws/airbnborg.

Maui County has also reported that over 900 houses, apartment units and rooms have been made available across the state to help those who have been displaced. For assistance, call 808-587-0469 weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or email hhfdcfirerelief housing@hawaii.gov.

Family Life Center, one of Maui’s largest homeless serv­ice providers, is developing Ohana Hope Village, a midterm housing solution made up of foldable container housing that can be assembled to house up to six people.

Family Life Center COO Ashley Kelly said, “The hotels are providing a reprieve, but we know that these families would like a solution like this and we can rapidly deploy this option. We hope that the plan will set a precedent for disaster relief.”

Kelly said the nonprofit is working with architecture firm Hawaii Off Grid to add private kitchens and bathrooms to each unit and to create a community with a “home-like feel” on a 10-acre site leased from King’s Cathedral. Construction will be done by local workers, including those assisting in the disaster cleanup in Lahaina town.

“This is a community project built by the community. We think this will be a very healing project,” she said.

Kelly said Continest, the firm that provides the foldable housing, did not have enough prefab homes in Oakland, so the company outsourced the order to Hungary and the Hungarian government made arrangements for NATO’s heavy airlift wing to deliver the first 18 units, which can be assembled into at least 10 dwellings.

Kelly said the first phase is targeted to open Sept. 4 with as many as 34 dwellings if more planes are made available to bring additional Continest units. She said FEMA has planes delivering supplies to the Ukraine that are leaving empty, which possibly could deliver more emergency housing units to Hawaii.

Eventually, the project should supply about 85 dwellings, reaching 350 people, she said. When units are no longer needed, Kelly said, they can be collapsed and stored until they are needed again. For more information, visit 808ne.ws/ohanahopevillage.