More Maui housing projects break ground, priority to be given to those who did not receive federal aid

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Josephine Fraser, Kdin Dias and their two young children finally get a sigh of relief. The Lahaina natives received a key to a home in Wailuku after moving from hotel room to hotel room at least nine times since the August wildfires.

Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news

They were the first family to receive the keys for the Ke Ao Maluhi Community, developed by the state, county, Hawaii Community Foundation and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement.

More than 500 families could be housed once the projects are completed. Officials blessed the Ka Lai Ola site in West Maui.

State officials said a neighborhood made up of modular home units will soon fill the empty land.

“The first hundred or so units should be available the first week of August and then the first phase of 270 units will be available through the month of August. The additional 180 units will then be available two to three months after that,” said DHS Deputy Director Joseph Campus.

Campus said they are working on launching applications for potential residents on June 1.

Priority will be given to displaced residents from the wildfires who are ineligible for FEMA aid and on the State’s dime for shelter. As of now, about 765 families are still living in hotels.

The governor anticipates just about a quarter of them will still be in need of transitional housing once Ka Lai Ola opens in August.

“We think it’s closer to 135 families that are not FEMA eligible for housing and their number is a little higher but that’s why building housing right here behind us and making sure we have partnerships where we are going to go this afternoon is so critical,” Governor Green explained.

Governor Green added a bill that will soon become a law will give the counties the ability to regulate short-term vacation rentals, possibly opening even more housing options to local families.

“Bringing back a lot of the short-term rental into people’s ability to rent them, we’ll get through this,” he said.

However, a Maui County Councilmember said that a change in the law will not provide homes immediately.

“I don’t know that in this fiscal year, we would be able to implement it because we just set all the tax rates and got our budget out of committee and so we’re relying heavily on that short-term rental income in this next fiscal year,” said Maui County Councilmember Tamara Paltin.