Evacuees live nomadic life after Maui wildfire as housing shortage intensifies and tourists return

Charles Nahale plays the only guitar he took with him from the wildfire on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Nahale had many guitar and ukulele collections that were burned down in his home on Front Street. – Charles Nahale spent a restless night trying to sleep in the back seat of his pickup truck after a wildfire destroyed his home and the town of Lahaina.

The government, via the Federal Emergency Management Agency, paid for Nahale and some 8,000 other displaced residents to move into hotels, vacation rentals and other short-term housing after theIt’s unusual for FEMA to put so many people in hotels after a disaster, particularly for months, but Maui had plenty of empty hotel rooms after tourists left in the wake of the fire.

The Red Cross, whose case workers are administering FEMA's hotel stay program, is sending Nahale to another condo unit with a kitchen, but it will only be available for 12 days. Finding a long-term rental is hard when thousands of others are also looking, he said. She signed a lease on Wednesday, paying the first month's rent and a deposit using aid money and $2,000 from a cousin. Catholic Charities is arranging to pay for the next three months.

A Maui-based software developer, Matt Jachowski, built a website aimed at matching fire evacuees with landlords. More than 600 families have sought housing on the site, but he said very few have actually found lodging because landlords want more in rent than the evacuees can afford to pay. Longer term, Maui will need to build more affordable housing, Fenton said, noting some developments are awaiting zoning approval or need to be evaluated for sufficient sources of water.

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