The door to permanently affordable homeownership in Lahaina is now open. The Lahaina Community Land Trust has launched its homebuyer portal where Lahaina-rooted ʻohana can take the first step on the path to purchasing an affordable home. 

The portal, accessible at lahainacommunitylandtrust.org/comehome, allows interested residents to submit an intake form that places them on the pathway to one day purchasing an LCLT home. When a home becomes available for sale, LCLT will run a lottery among qualified applicants, who will then have the opportunity to purchase available homes.  

Residents who sign up now will receive notices on homes as they come up for sale and guidance on how to become homebuyer-ready while they wait. Just as importantly, every intake helps LCLT better understand the community’s housing needs, directly shaping where and how we build in the years ahead.  

LCLT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in the fire’s wake to keep Lahaina ʻohana home. It embodies the Community Land Trust model, a nationally recognized approach born in the U.S. South in the 1960s to protect Black families from land displacement during the Civil Rights Movement. CLTs keep homes affordable by owning the land but selling the structure to income-qualified purchasers, along with a 99-year ground lease. Because the purchase price does not include the land, LCLT homes stay within local families’ financial reach, and because the land is held in trust, it is permanently protected from speculative forces and for Lahaina families, forever. 

“For too long, the story in Lahaina has been one of local families being priced out of their own community,” said Autumn Ness, LCLT Executive Director. “This portal is the next chapter — a tangible path for Lahaina residents to come home and stay home, with the kind of stability and roots our ʻohana deserve.” 

Once applicants are qualified, LCLT works alongside trusted lending partners to guide buyers through financing, connects families with a homebuyer education course, and conducts annual check-ins after move-in to ensure that ‘ohana have the resources needed to thrive as homeowners. LCLT homes appreciate at a steady 1.5% per year, a rate designed to enable families to build meaningful equity while still ensuring the home remains affordable for the next Lahaina ʻohana should they ever decide to sell. 

“Every home we place into the trust is a promise to Lahaina’s future generations,” Ness said. “One home at a time, we are rewriting what’s possible for our community.” 

To qualify for an LCLT home, applicants must: 

• Have a household income that does not exceed $300,000 or 140% of Area Median Income, whichever is greater. 
• Be a current Maui County resident who lived in a home damaged or destroyed in the 2023 Lahaina fire. 
• Meet asset eligibility limits, such as owning no more than a 33% interest in another residential property; and 
• Qualify for a mortgage or have adequate resources to purchase outright. 

To learn more about the process, visit lahainacommunitylandtrust.org/howtoqualify.