Congressman Case urges federal construction of transitional housing for Maui fire victims

US Congressman Ed Case (HI-01), member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security overseeing funding responsibility over Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), called on the agency to broaden transitional housing support for the thousands displaced by the Lahaina wildfires last August.

During a Subcommittee hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes FEMA, Case urged DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to build transitional houses instead of relying on relocating victims from hotels and other post-emergency dwellings to existing homes or apartments.

Case said relying only on rehousing is extremely difficult given the severe shortage of homes on Maui that already existed before the disaster that left some 12,000 people houseless.

During his questioning of Mayorkas, Case said “aside from many positive areas of progress, the one missing piece is housing.”

Case said that the Department of Homeland Security usually pursues both a rehousing and rebuilding approach, but in the case of Lahaina, FEMA has focused largely on trying to find housing in existing inventory, which has negatively skewed the Maui ownership and rental market.

“That is not going to be all of the solution here,” said Case. “You actually need some form of rebuilding to pull this off over time.”

Case then asked Mayorkas to accelerate consideration of FEMA building some transitional housing and/or the infrastructure necessary for homes on land made available by the State of Hawai‘i. He also asked Mayorkas to consider a waiver that would allow those victims previously disqualified for rehousing to be granted access to temporary housing.

According to the FEMA website, some common reasons Maui residents who had damage from the wildfire may not be eligible for assistance are if they haven’t sent FEMA the documents or information requested, if the damage or loss is covered by insurance or other sources, if there is more than one application filed for a household or if FEMA couldn’t verify an individual’s occupancy.

In response to Case, Mayorkas said that the administration is working to understand what is the right solution for the people of Maui. “The challenges of rebuilding are difficult because of its island status, its unique situation as an extraordinary tourist destination, the pricing of housing is different than many other places…”

“The answers are pretty straight forward,” said Case. “You can’t leave people in hotels for another six months to a year while you figure this out […] Some decision needs to be made on some form of rebuilding and/or the waiver authority that will relieve the pressure on that rebuilding.”

Case earlier met with Maui Mayor Richard Bissen, who attended Case’s Subcommittee hearing last week.