Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi suggests six ways to speed up home building in Lahaina

The Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi released today a second policy brief regarding how to speed up homebuilding on Maui in the wake of the deadly August 2023 wildfires that killed 102 people in Lahaina and left thousands of people homeless.

The brief — sent directly to Gov. Josh Green, Mayor Richard Bissen, FEMA Region 9 Administrator Robert Fenton Jr. and members of the Maui County Council and Hawaiʻi State Legislature — is titled “Six ways to speed up the recovery and rebuilding of Lahaina,” and was written by Grassroot staffers Jonathan Helton, Malia Hill and Jasmine Rocha. 

It outlines four actions to assist with the rebuilding of destroyed housing or the construction of new temporary housing in the Lahaina burn zone, and two reforms that it says would increase Maui County’s housing stock in general.

Specifically, the document recommends that lawmakers:

• Waive building permit fees for the rebuilding of destroyed housing or construction of new temporary housing.
• Waive special management area fees and create an expedited process for approving SMA permits.
• Allow nonconforming buildings to be reconstructed and nonconforming uses to be restored.
• Emphasize existing laws that provide liability protections for the county and builders of temporary housing.
• Grant nonprofit builders exemptions from certain county zoning and building rules through a “Yes, in God’s backyard” law, as urged by the 2024 Legislature’s House Concurrent Resolution 122.
• Legalize more dwellings in residential zones. 

Keli’i Akina, Grassroot president and CEO, said today the organization’s new brief “identifies steps policymakers could take to remove many of the legal barriers that have been preventing our friends and family on Maui affected by the fires from quickly rebuilding their homes, businesses and communities.” 

In a foreword to the new brief, Akina said: “It is my hope that these detailed proposals will make it easier to build new housing and contribute to a revived Lahaina that respects the past and the visions of the area’s property owners for the future. 

“The recovery process still has a long way to go,” he says, “but we owe it to our Maui ohana to stay engaged in those efforts, and we at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii remain committed to helping in every way we can.”

To read Grassroot’s first policy recommendations in response to the Lahaina tragedy, “Maui Interim Housing Plan,” distributed to leading government officials in January, go here.