Op-Ed: Delays spell doom for rebuilding Lahaina as we knew it

Op-Ed: Delays spell doom for rebuilding Lahaina as we knew it
By: Jonathan Helton | Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi
Helton is a policy analyst at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaiʻi and the author of the policy brief “Four more ways to speed up Lahaina’s wildfire recovery.”

The longer it takes for Lahaina residents to rebuild after the horrific fires of August 2023, the less likely it is that the town will ever recover its historic charm or commercial importance to the economy of Maui and the state overall.

There are many reasons it is taking so long to rebuild, but if Hawaiʻi policymakers want to avoid saying aloha to old Lahaina, they need to more quickly remove the many regulatory barriers that remain in the way.

Yes, some property owners did not have adequate insurance. Others might still be deciding whether they want to rebuild. But many homeowners and businesses are simply hamstrung by Maui County’s overly complex zoning and permitting regulations.

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As a result, most Lahaina residents still lack permanent shelter, almost 60% of households affected by the fires reported less income as of mid-2025 than before, and the share of those living below the poverty line has almost doubled, according to a recent survey by the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawai‘i.

In particular, only 45% of Lahaina residents were working full-time in mid-2025 compared to 66% before the fires, while the percentage of those working part-time or not at all in both cases doubled.

The effect of all this has been to encourage people to move away. In early 2025, research by UHERO and the Hawaii Department of Taxation estimated that between 400 and 500 Maui residents had already left not only Maui but the state as a whole. The researchers noted that these numbers were likely a “dramatic underestimate.”

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Lahaina’s business owners likewise are suffering. In 2023, the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism estimated that there were more than 800 businesses employing more than 7,000 workers in Lahaina before the destructive wildfires. A March 2025 report from the Maui Economic Recovery Commission put the pre-fire figures at 961 businesses with more than $900 million in annual revenues.

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But just a couple months after the fires, more than 600 businesses had closed, according to an estimate from the Hawaiʻi Small Business Development Center.

Meanwhile, the damage done to Lahaina has also caused revenue losses for the state and Maui County. Fewer homes and businesses means less property tax revenue collected by the county — at a time when the county is scratching for every last cent to cover infrastructure rebuilding costs.

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People moving away also means fewer income and excise tax collections. The January 2025 UHERO and DOTAX research estimated that the 400–500 people who have already left took $50 million in annual income with them, costing the state at least $3 million in income taxes.

Furthermore, the state and county have been losing out on millions of dollars in lost transient accommodation taxes due to the drop in visitors. The Maui Economic Recovery Commission report put the figure at $69 million in lost TAT for the state in the year following the fires. Based on this figure, the county has likely lost more than $2 million in TAT.

So what now? How much longer is it going to take for Lahaina to get back on its feet — five, 10, 15 years? The town will be rebuilt, but will the residents and small businesses who called it home before the fires still be around?

The message to policymakers should be clear: Do everything in your power to hasten the rebuilding of Lahaina.

*****Views expressed in Op-Ed pieces are those of the author’s alone and do not reflect or represent the opinions, policies or positions of Maui Now.*****