$35M in federal funds to help rebuild Maui public housing

The Hawaii Public Housing Authority will receive more than $35 million in federal funding to rebuild low-­income, public and senior housing that was destroyed during the Aug. 8 Maui fires.

“This funding will help restore dozens of low-income rental units that were destroyed in the fires as fast as possible,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz announced Tuesday. “Housing remains the number one priority in Lahaina’s recovery, and we’re doing everything we can to bring federal resources to support.”

Pi‘ilani Elderly Homes and Community Center — senior public housing — had 42 units, and David Malo Circle — public housing for families — had 18. Both were operated by HPHA.

One of the 101 people who died in the wildfires, Maurice “Shadow” Buen, 79, lived in Pi‘ilani Homes. His remains were found less than a mile from there on Aug. 9.

Funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will restore the two facilities to pre-disaster design and function.

“The FEMA money equaling to $39.1 million, almost $40 million, pays for the replacement cost to replace the burned units,” Hakim Ouansafi, executive director of HPHA, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Tuesday.

Out of Lahaina’s estimated population of 13,000 before the Aug. 8 wildfires, 9,806 residents were displaced and 3,971 properties were destroyed, most of them homes.

Some 7,796 fire survivors moved into hotels and suffered trauma or have other mental health needs, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen has said.

Housing remains a critical issue in an area that lacked enough affordable housing before the wildfires, and most of the fire survivors want to remain in West Maui, especially close to jobs and their children’s schools.

The FEMA money, announced by Schatz on Tuesday, will restore David Malo Circle and Piilani Homes as they were before the wildfires.

FEMA calculated that David Malo Circle was valued at $18.7 million and will cost $23 million to restore; Pi‘ilani Homes was valued at $10.9 million and will cost $16.1 million to rebuild.

Ouansafi said HPHA has started the process by meeting with Bissen and preparing documents.

HPHA has been assured by the county that the process to obtain permits and other documents will be expedited, he said.

Construction will begin after the sites are cleaned up, which will be completed in January, Ouansafi said.

The facilities are then estimated to be ready for occupancy within two to three years, he said.

“We started consultation with the state, county, federal partners and others,” he said. “We want to make sure that we are part of a comprehensive plan that complements all the areas that have been devastated.”

“As Gov. Green mentioned, we want to make sure that it is a comprehensive rebuild that is consistent with what the community wants to see.”

Ouansafi said some of the residents who were staying at Piilani Homes and David Malo Circle were relocated to other HPHA units for permanent housing, while others were provided with tenant protection vouchers to subsidize their rents.

“There are only four right now that continue to look for housing that we’re working with,” he said. “Everybody else has been housed.”

HPHA has other efforts to increase the housing density on Maui by incentivizing affordable housing projects through subsidies.

The Ka Lei Momi Redevelopment Project — HPHA’s initiative launched in July to replace and create 10,000 affordable housing units for nine properties throughout the state for extremely low-income community members — has one property in Wailuku, Maui, called Kahekili Terrace, with 82 existing units.

“Even prior to the fires, there was a tremendous amount of need,” Ouansafi said. “And with the devastation of the fires, we are committed to make sure that affordability remains.”

He said Bissen has looked into “possibly providing another land that we can start building on right away.”

HPHA and the county are working together in locating land close to Lahaina to start building additional permanent housing “immediately, hopefully as early as this year,” addressing urgent housing needs.