Congressional subcommittee hears update on Maui wildfire aftermath

Members of the US House Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce, including Hawaiʻi US Reps. Jill Tokuda and Ed Case, heard an update Wednesday on last year’s deadly wildfires during a hearing at the Lahaina Civic Center.

Other congressional field panelists included Texas US Rep. Pete Sessions, subcommittee chairman; and California Rep. Katie Porter, a member of the full House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.

Col. Eric Swenson, the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Maui Wildfires Recovery Field Office commander, told the members of Congress that, as of last week, the Corps had cleared debris from the last of nearly 1,400 residential properties destroyed by the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire. Sixty percent of 159 commercial properties impacted by the fires have been cleared, he said.

The Corps also has removed more than 3,100 vehicles and cleared 141 vessels from Lahaina Harbor, Swenson said. The debris removal in Lahaina is expected to continue until February.

“Debris removal has been an extensive and complex mission, with an estimated cost exceeding $1 billion and a timeline of more than a year,” he said, adding that the Corps has been working in partnership with the state of Hawaiʻi, Maui County, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Protection Agency and others. “All debris operations are informed and guided by local cultural experts who are critical team members in the mission and who help the team respectfully remove debris while preserving the area’s heritage.”

Mayor Richard Bissen said the lives of Maui residents were changed forever by the “unimaginable devastation” of the wildfires. He noted that while yesterday’s hearing focused on emergency response efforts in Lahaina, “we must also remember that we faced multiple fires that day in Upcountry Kula, Olinda and Pūlehu.”

At times during his testimony, Bissen appeared overcome by emotion and he needed to pause to compose himself when speaking of the suffering of Maui’s people.

“Most importantly, I want to recognize the incredible strength of our people, many who have endured inconceivable suffering, but continue to push forward with incredible grit, sacrifice and immeasurable courage,” Bissen said. “And while we can rebuild structures, if we don’t return Lahaina to the people who represent the spirit and soul of that community – if we don’t recognize the faces of our friends and family as we repopulate Lahaina, we will have lost this battle for our people – and even one more family lost is one too many.” 

“The fight is far from over, and continued financial and programmatic support from our state and federal partners is crucial to the preservation and livelihood of our people, and the success of this recovery,” he said. 

Bob Fenton, FEMA’s Region 9 administrator and chief federal response coordinator, said that, in the immediate aftermath of the fire, the federal agency deployed more than 400 urban search-and-rescue personnel and 40 canines from across five states to search 1,789 structures and 3,816 vehicles.

“In total, over 1,000 federal personnel rushed to the island to help survivors, and FEMA shipped approximately 50,000 meals, 141,000 liters of water, 5,000 cots and 10,000 blankets to Hawaiʻi,” Fenton said.

Approximately 4,000 households lost their homes in the wildfires, aggravating a pre-existing housing shortage on Maui, he said.

“After the fire, the town of Lahaina evacuated over 10,000 people,” Fenton said. “Approximately 8,000 stayed with family and friends, and nearly 2,000 people stayed in congregate shelters administered by the American Red Cross. By the second week of the incident, the state and county closed all congregate shelters and moved these 2,000 survivors into hotels through the state-run, FEMA-funded Non-Congregate Sheltering Program. At the height of (that program), 8,000 survivors were accommodated in hotels, out of Lahaina’s pre-fire population of 13,000 people.”

Fenton said more than 4,300 households were approved for Housing Assistance through FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program assistance. As part of that program, $34.8 million was provided directly to survivors through financial housing assistance that helped with initial and continued rental costs. Another $22.5 million was provided to 6,800 eligible households through the Other Needs Assistance program to help with eligible expenses like funeral assistance, childcare and transportation.

Tokuda questioned Fenton about the direct-lease housing program and “predatory behavior” by some landlords who pushed out current renters to take advantage of higher FEMA-subsidized rents for wildfire survivors.

Now, “would this still have been the best approach for transitioning survivors out of non-congregate shelters into this direct-lease program?” she asked.

“I think the speed that we had to do it this was the only resource that we had those many units available,” he said, adding that FEMA focused on putting people in vacation rental units.

FEMA received less than 10 complaints that were “potential issues where people have been displaced,” Fenton said, and those were turned over to the Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General.

While questioning Bissen, Porter said post-fire federal interventions have negatively impacted Maui’s “broken” housing market.

Subcommittee research showed that from 2018 to 2023 Maui had a net loss of 175 housing units, she said.

“You cannot expect the market to fix something after a natural disaster,” Porter said. “The market was already deeply dysfunctional beforehand, so in other words, you already had an affordable housing crisis before the fire.”

And, the fire has worsened and highlighted Maui’s housing emergency, she said.

“We can’t just rely on the market because the market wasn’t going to get it done before… it’s not gonna suddenly get it done now,” Porter said. “And some of the federal interventions, in some ways, make the market worse, more difficult; some of them, I think, will help and make it better, but we just have a broken market.”

She said subcommittee research found that 18% of Maui’s residentially zoned property is multifamily, which is more than double the rest of the state (7.5%).

“So I think we’re gonna need some flexibility about the types of homes we build; what kinds of materials we use to build homes; and what those homes look like; and we have to do that in a way that respects the heritage,” Porter said.

She asked Bissen: “What do we need to change to create a better market for affordable housing in Maui?”

“Infrastructure, including water,” he said. “Water is probably the greatest barrier, as least for the west side.” He added that 76% of the water in West Maui is in private hands, leaving only 24% for Maui County’s water system.

The county is striving to get more water from wells and by working with private landowners, but even if water is acquired, the state Commission on Water Resource Management “allocates how much water we’re allowed to take out,” Bissen said.

Wastewater capacity also needs to be increased to provide more housing and rebuild Lahaina, he said.

The federal witness panel also included Cheree Peterson, US Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Regional Administration Region 9; and Francisco Sanchez Jr., Small Business Administration, Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience associate administrator. The state/local witness panel included Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, Adjutant General for the State of Hawaiʻi, Department of Defense; Lauren Nahme, Hawaii Community Foundation’s senior vice president of Maui Recovery Office; Sne Patel, LahainaTown Action Committee president; and Ke’eaumoku Kapu, Na ‘Aikane o Maui president and chief executive officer. 

The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives. It has broad authority to investigate any matter at any time. The panel’s mission is to ensure federal agencies perform their duties efficiently and accountably.

The hearing can be viewed here on oversight.house.gov/ or below. Copies of witness testimony is also available on the website.