FEMA Provides Assistance to Maui Survivors; Schatz asks for further help

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved Hawaii’s request to extend financial assistance and direct transitional housing assistance for an additional year, now through February 10, 2026. The 18-month relief period was originally scheduled to end on February 10, 2025.

Although the U.S. Small Business Administration’s deadline for Economic Injury Disaster Loans passed Saturday, the SBA may still accept late applications if the delay was due to force majeure.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, also urged the Senate in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to take further steps, including approving emergency relief funding, to help survivors of the Maui wildfires that occurred on Aug. 8, 2023 , to support. .

“It has now been more than 15 months since the intense fires razed Lahaina last August, destroying 2,200 structures – most of them homes – and displacing more than 12,000 people,” Schatz said. “For more than a year, survivors and their families have been moved from one temporary housing unit to another, struggling to find any semblance of stability.”

He emphasized that finding new employment remains a challenge due to lagging tourism, and that rebuilding small businesses has been difficult without access to capital and a robust workforce. On top of these hurdles, survivors and the broader Maui community continue to face tremendous mental grief and challenges, he said.

“They are doing everything they can to get back on their feet for themselves and their families, for their communities,” Schatz said. “But the simple fact is that they can’t do it alone; they need the help of the federal government.”

Schatz also emphasized the need to provide flexible, long-term recovery assistance in the form of Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funding, which will enable survivors to rebuild their homes and communities as quickly as possible.

Disaster recovery funds – appropriated by Congress and allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – ​​are essential to rebuilding disaster-affected areas like Lahaina, which was devastated by the 2023 Maui wildfires.

The flexible grants provide crucial seed money to kick-start the long-term recovery process.

The funds will assist cities, counties, Indian tribes, and states in recovering from presidentially declared disasters, with a particular emphasis on low-income areas, subject to the availability of additional appropriations. The funding can support a wide range of recovery activities, allowing HUD to help communities like Lahaina that would otherwise struggle to rebuild due to limited resources.

However, Schatz said, “That’s not enough.

“It’s not enough to pick up the wreckage and say, ‘the rest is yours.’ The federal government’s responsibility to help survivors does not end when the streets are clear again. Walking away mid-process and leaving exhausted survivors with no one to turn to is not an acceptable or successful outcome.”

FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration have approved more than $474.6 million in federal assistance for survivors of the August 8 Maui wildfires.

The funding includes $61.7 million in FEMA assistance for 7,152 individuals and households, with $39.3 million allocated for housing assistance – including $33.1 million for rental assistance – and $22.4 million for other assistance.

Additionally, the SBA has approved $412.9 million in disaster loans to support affected homeowners, renters and businesses on Maui.

FEMA’s Direct Housing assistance currently includes both rental housing and modular housing, also known as Alternative Transportable Temporary Housing units, located at the Kilohana Temporary Group Housing Site, as well as at primary and secondary locations.

FEMA is actively building the Kilohana site, where 167 modular units will provide housing for survivors.

These alternative portable temporary housing units are prefabricated, furnished units available in one-, two-, and three-bedroom layouts designed to meet county, state, and federal requirements.

In support of the initiative, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors are working on an emergency sewer project at the Kilohana site, located in Lahaina at Fleming Road and Malo Street.

As of Tuesday, 1,182 households will temporarily stay in FEMA’s direct rental housing.

Beginning February 10, 2025, when the extended period of financial assistance and direct temporary housing assistance begins, FEMA will implement a rental requirement. Rent will be based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent and adjusted based on each household’s ability to pay. FEMA has also adopted a streamlined process to simplify rent calculations.

For primary locations, homeowners enrolled in the Direct Housing Program may be eligible to place an alternative portable temporary housing unit on their property so they can live on site while they rebuild. The property must meet specific lot size requirements and must be located outside the coastal floodplain.

For secondary locations, FEMA seeks to lease vacant lots from property owners who do not plan to rebuild within the next two to three years. The properties will house individuals and families displaced by the wildfires, with placement on FEMA-selected leased property. The property must meet lot size requirements, be located outside the high-risk coastal floodplain, and allow for the placement of two or more temporary units.