An initial increment of new rent-free temporary homes developed in Lahaina by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for survivors of the 2023 Maui wildfires has opened for use.
The first 24 homes in FEMA’s 167-unit temporary housing community called Kilohana were provided to fire survivors over the past weekend.
Lafaele Folaumoeloa and his wife, Ane, along with their three children were among the first families to see their new home during a blessing ceremony Friday.
“Oh my goodness,” Folaumoeloa said during a tour of the home as he tapped his chest with his hand. “We home. We home.”
Three companies — Dynamic, Timberline and Acuity — are building Kilohana’s one-, two- and three-bedroom modular units on the mainland and shipping them to Maui where they are being installed on 34 acres of state land where the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and private contractors had to blast rock as part of grading work before installing utility and road infrastructure for the project.
FEMA expects to have all the homes, which have beds, desks, dining tables and other basic furnishings, ready for use in phases.
An agency representative Monday could not say how long it is expected to take to have all 167 homes ready for use. About half the units are on the site, though most still need to be installed, while the rest are expected to arrive on Maui by early December.
Bob Fenton, administrator for the region of FEMA that includes Hawaii, said Friday that more than just temporary housing for fire survivors is being built.
“Our commitment to West Maui extends beyond today and beyond Kilohana,” he said during the blessing ceremony. “Through our long-term recovery office, we will continue working on the recovery efforts to support this community for years to come.”
The modular homes, FEMA said, are designed to last 30 or more years and can be relocated to help increase Maui’s housing stock after the Kilohana units are no longer needed for use by fire survivors on the site where the state has longer-term plans for an affordable-housing subdivision.
Gov. Josh Green, who participated in Friday’s ceremony, called it a magic moment. He said later in a post on Facebook, “For so many families, Kilohana represents more than just a place to stay — it is a vital step toward healing and rebuilding in the place they have always called home.”
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen noted during the ceremony that it was not an easy or inexpensive task for FEMA to develop the project.
FEMA provided $95 million to the Army Corps of Engineers for Kilohana’s infrastructure work.
Kilohana units also meet local and international building codes, which was a first for modular temporary housing produced by FEMA, the agency said.
The project is adjacent to a similar but larger one with 450 units being developed by the state Department of Human Services called Ka La‘i Ola where the first dozen units were ready for occupancy in August. Like Kilohana, Ka La‘i Ola is being completed in phases, and the last phase is scheduled for completion in March.
FEMA also is working to place modular homes on vacant lots in West Maui where property owners do not intend to rebuild within the next two to three years. For such lots that meet certain conditions for suitability, FEMA intends to lease them and provide two or more modular homes on each lot for use by fire survivors.
The Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire killed 102 people and claimed roughly 3,500 homes in Lahaina. A fire in Kula on the same day destroyed 19 homes.
Initially, FEMA housed survivors in Maui hotels, then gradually transitioned to leasing about 1,300 homes on the island at vacation rental rates and making them available to fire survivors.
FEMA did not deploy trailered mobile homes for disaster survivors on Maui because state or local government officials did not request them. Green decided such homes were not a desirable or dignified option.
Green and other local government officials had asked FEMA to build 1,000 homes, but the agency’s core mission and main capabilities don’t include building new homes for emergency disaster relief. Still, FEMA agreed to develop some modular homes as an “absolute last alternative” to what the agency typically provides.
