Maui was experiencing a housing crisis even before thousands were left in dire need of shelter from the Aug. 8 wildfires.

Which explains why in June — two months before the fires that destroyed scores of homes in Lahaina and Upcountry — the Maui County Council approved in concept a measure that would offer tens of thousands of dollars to property owners who want to build an accessory dwelling unit, often called an ohana unit.

On Friday the Council will consider a bill establishing the criteria for the ‘Ohana Assistance Pilot Program, which will offer grants of up to $100,000 to build an accessory dwelling unit, or second farm dwelling, for long-term occupancy.

Council Chair Alice Lee, who proposed the bill, said there’s an urgent need for affordable housing, especially following the fires, and this program should help to relieve the pressure and keep people from moving away from the island.

“We’ve received so many calls and inquiries about this,” she said.

Affordable housing has long been a problem on Maui. But in recent years, with a lack of inventory, costs have ballooned with the median home price increasing from about $775,000 in 2018 to around $1.2 million in 2022.

The housing market grew even tighter following the deadly wildfire that roared into Lahaina town Aug. 8, killing at least 100 people and destroying more than 2,000 structures, many of them homes. The disaster left more than 7,000 in need of shelter.

The crisis hit Claude Moreau straight-on. Even before the fire, his daughter and her husband and their 15-year-old son had moved into his Paia home, unable to afford the huge rent increase imposed on them by their last landlord.

“My daughter, she’s a schoolteacher, her husband’s a schoolteacher. They cannot afford to buy a house here. It’s just out of her possibility,” Moreau told a recent Maui County Council committee in Wailuku.

The handyman and substitute teacher said he planned to build an ohana unit for his daughter’s family, but now his son and his family have no permanent place to stay after the fire destroyed the Lahaina home they were residing in.

“They’re living in hotels, bouncing around back and forth, commuting between the west side and this side for the jobs and the kids, and it’s total chaos,” he said.

Moreau said measures like the ‘Ohana Assistance Pilot Program will help him and others wanting to make a few extra bucks — or keep their families on the island.

“You heard about people priced out of paradise? It’s a real thing. I want to keep my family here,” he said.

Susie Thieman, executive director of the housing nonprofit Lokahi Pacific, said someone in need of a place to move their family told her recently that the only thing they could find was a 2,000-square-foot home for $5,200 a month.

“That’s insane,” she said.

Thieman said she’s excited about the grant program. “We’re looking for a win-win between the homeowner and the houseless — and this is the perfect solution.”

She added, “We may not do thousands of homes this way, but hopefully during 2024 there will be progress that is impressive to everyone.”

Under the proposed bill, property owners who receive grants would be required to rent their ohana unit at an affordable price (under federal guidelines or less) for at least 10 years. Any less than a decade would require owners to pay back the county, prorated by how many years they stayed in the program.

The program will be funded initially by $2.5 million in housing funds.

The current zoning code allows one accessory dwelling on all residential lots regardless of size and two accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, on lots of at least 7,500 square feet.

If the bill passes first reading Friday, second and final reading would be planned for Jan. 12.

Lee, a former Maui County housing director, said she hopes the program will end up building 500 ohana units per year.

“One hundred thousand is a substantial amount,” she said, adding that the maximum grant would cover as much as half of the construction cost for some units.

Accessory dwelling units, which also have been called mother-in-law units or granny flats, have been criticized in some quarters for creating parking problems and overcrowding, changing the appearance of neighborhoods and undercutting the single-family nature of neighborhoods.

But Lee said the proposal so far hasn’t run into any resistance. That may have something to do with the county’s far-reaching housing shortage, especially in the aftermath of the fires.

“We need housing now more than ever,” she said. “This is going to be a big help.”

Gov. Josh Green, as part of his housing proposals, reportedly is looking at the possibility of dedicating Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to help build ADUs, with construction expedited by allowing property owners to choose from pre-approved models.

Maui Mayor Richard Bissen is also considering a similar plan to fast-track the approval of ohana dwellings, according to Lee. When the first-term mayor was running for office in 2022, one of his proposals to make housing more affordable on Maui was to encourage the construction of ohana units via the creation of pre-approved ADU floor plans.

The potential bugaboo for the ‘Ohana Assistance Program is the extensive backlog of project approvals in the county’s Development Services Administration, which Lee said is short on staffing.

But Lee said the mayor is working on a plan to revamp the approval process to free up the backlog of construction projects.

“The Council is very, very concerned about the permit process,” she said. “We’re looking forward to what the mayor comes up with.”