HONOLULU (AP) — U.S. officials have granted a request to extend housing assistance for survivors of catastrophic 2023 wildfires, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Friday.
Nearly 1,000 households displaced by fire were anxiously awaiting word on whether federal assistance helping them stay housed will be left to expire, forcing them to find new housing or pay more for it in one of the tightest and most expensive rental environments in the country.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem approved Hawaii’s request to extend Federal Emergency Management Agency temporary housing assistance for Maui wildfire survivors until February 2027, Green said in a news release.
FEMA did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation of the extension.
“It lifted a weight I did not even realize I was carrying, and I know many other families were carrying that same weight too,” Kukui Keahi, a Lahaina fire survivor and associate director of Kako’o Maui Programs at the nonprofit Hawaiian Council, said after learning of the extension.
The fires in Lahaina and Kula, in Maui’s upcountry region, destroyed 2,200 structures and killed 102 people. Then-President Joe Biden declared a major disaster, unlocking FEMA assistance to help 12,000 displaced people, 89% of whom were renters at the time of the fires. His administration eventually extended the 18-month program until February 2026.
But with few homes rebuilt and rental inventory nearing zero, the state requested another extension in May.
“Recovery doesn’t follow an artificial deadline and I appreciate Secretary Noem and the administration for recognizing the reality families are still facing on the ground here in Hawai‘i,” Green said.
While megafires in other states have destroyed more homes, Maui’s fires created a unique crisis. Limited housing stock and the island’s remote location from the mainland U.S. made relocating survivors and rebuilding exceptionally difficult.
FEMA, the state, county, and nonprofits all scrambled to find solutions to house the displaced, most of whom were desperate to stay near Lahaina to be close to work, schools and the community.
After working with the Red Cross to house 8,000 residents in hotels and other temporary shelters in the initial weeks, FEMA slowly transitioned families to other forms of housing assistance.
It offered money for rent, installed temporary shelters on burned properties, and leased thousands of units itself to rent back to survivors, though some complained of burdensome eligibility requirements and having to move several times.
Steven Hew had not heard about FEMA’s decision until The Associated Press contacted him. The 52-year-old restaurant cashier rents a subsidized apartment from FEMA after the fire burned down his family’s multigenerational home in Lahaina.
Hew was “shaking” after hearing the news. “A lot of people were on edge and scared and didn’t know what they were going to do,” if the assistance was not extended, he said.
“Somebody had a heart and just said ‘Yes,’ and whoever that person was, I thank them,” said Hew.
He plans to save enough money over the next year to rent a place on his own.
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Aoun Angueira reported from San Diego, California.