Residents Asked to Complete Fair Market Rent Surveys

Photo by Wendy Osher.

The County of Maui Department of Housing and Human Concerns has mailed surveys to a random sample of Maui County residents in an effort to obtain reliable information on what families are currently paying for rent in Maui County.

SMS, a local research firm, will collect the data on behalf of the DHHC Housing Division. SMS will send surveys, receive completed surveys and report a summary of the data to the county.

Survey responses are confidential; the survey will take only a few minutes to complete.

Residents who receive a survey are encouraged to complete it within 14 days of receipt.

The surveys are designed to help ensure that the rent figures used by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development present an accurate depiction of actual rents being charged in Maui County. HUD’s “Fair Market Rents” are used to set pricing for many federally subsidized programs that help low-income families obtain and keep safe, decent and sanitary housing.

“Over the past few years, HUD has set the County’s “Fair Market Rents” at what we believe is below what Maui County residents are actually paying,” said DHHC Director Carol Reimann. “By completing the survey, you will help us explain to HUD what the real rental housing situation is in our county.”

For more information, call the DHHC Housing Division at 270-7351.