Schatz: ‘Must-pass’ federal bill includes $1.6B in long-term housing funds for Maui

US Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) has announced that more than $12 billion in new long-term recovery funding for disaster-impacted communities nationwide has been included in a bipartisan government spending deal that was released on Tuesday. From that, Maui is set to receive an estimated $1.6 billion in new Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for housing and hundreds of millions more have also been included for economic development, small business loans, and water infrastructure, among other things. Both chambers of Congress are expected to vote on final passage of the package this week.

“This money is for three things: housing, housing, and housing,” Schatz said. “For the past 16 months, the people of Lahaina have done everything in their power to recover as quickly as they can. But they were never meant to do it alone. As disaster response gives way to disaster recovery, building housing is the top priority. People can’t fully recover without permanent, stable housing, and that’s why getting this funding now is so important.”

In addition to the estimated $1.6 billion in CDBG-DR funding for housing, hundreds of millions more will be heading to Maui to:

• Create new jobs and support job training programs
• Provide loans to impacted small businesses
• Help restore Maui’s economy
• Rebuild critical water infrastructure
• Restore buildings and key structures

Since the Maui fires in August 2023, Schatz has continually led efforts in Congress to deliver relief for survivors, including securing $16 billion for the national Disaster Relief Fund last year and most recently co-sponsoring the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act which passed the Senate unanimously last week. The bill exempts survivors of the fires from having to pay federal income tax on their settlement money or pay tax on attorney fees included in the settlement.