Local News

Many wildfire survivors continue to seek affordable housing in Lahaina

Former Lahaina resident Sharon Serafica, her husband William and great-granddaughter have lived in nine different places since losing their home at Front Street Apartments to the August 2023 Lahaina fire.

"We still haven't found a permanent home," said Serafica, a retired preschool teacher. "And everybody around us is facing medical problems."

While federal, state and county officials seek to rebuild affordable housing units that were destroyed in the fire and construct new ones, they face an immense endeavor in an economy short on housing where rents remain high. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment can range from $2,800 to more than $3,000 a month.

Serafica said for a time, her family lived in a house in Kula but had to move out when the landowner decided to rent the single-family dwelling to a family member.

Serafica's family is currently living in a government-supported temporary modular home at Puumakani Place in Kahului for $1,750 a month. She said many people who occupy the 50 temporary modular homes along their street are wildfire survivors from Lahaina.

Serafica said they've heard that their modular home won't be available after two years and she doesn't know where else her family will find a home.

Serafica is hoping she'll be able to move back into a rebuilt and affordable Front Street Apartment in a couple of years.

Projects in West Maui

Several hundred affordable housing units have been completed or are planned across Maui as federal, state and county agencies work to replace housing lost in the wildfire that claimed at least 102 lives and destroyed more than 2,200 buildings.

Among the largest completed projects are the 200-unit Kaiāulu o Kūkuʻia affordable rental community in Lahaina, the rebuilt 89-unit Kaiāulu o Kupuohi development and the 47-unit Ke ʻAla Punia workforce housing project for state Department of Education employees.

Maui County officials also say disaster recovery funding has been allocated to restore 519 affordable rental units across West Maui, including Front Street Apartments, Lahaina Surf, Hale Mahaolu Eono, Weinberg Court Apartments, Komohana Hale Apartments, Westside Affordable Housing and Kaiaulu ʻO Nāpili. Construction on Front Street Apartments, where Serafica once lived, is expected to begin in February 2027.

Additional affordable housing projects are also planned, including the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ Villages of Leialiʻi 1-B development and the 178-unit Hale Pilina project in Central Maui, which is expected to be completed in late summer 2027.

Temporary quarters

Like Serafica, a number of wildfire survivors have found temporary housing in Central Maui, including Colleen Greenleaf, who was able to apply for federal supplemental support for her one-bedroom apartment unit with a monthly rent of about $2,000.

"It's expensive," said Greenleaf, who hopes to eventually find affordable housing in Lahaina. "I'm willing to move back to Lahaina."

Lahaina resident Barbara Henny said she's relieved to have been able to find a good place in West Maui, renting an affordable one-bedroom at the newly built Kupuohi.

Henny was co-chair of the Front Street Apartment Tenants Group that successfully lobbied to have the state purchase their homes to keep them as affordable rental housing, only to see them burn in the wildfire.

She said she moved 11 times before finding permanent housing.

"It's very nice. I have a beautiful view of Lahaina," she said.

Serafica said she's hoping to find permanent housing in the future for herself, her husband and great-granddaughter after moving nine times.

Her family has had health problems. Her husband had a quadruple heart bypass, and she is a lung cancer survivor.

Serafica said they've been waiting to receive money from a wildfire settlement that will help them pay off accumulating debts, and she hopes to receive that payment soon.

"I'm tired of waiting," she said. "I could be dead. I could get another nodule in my lung, and I could die."

Greenleaf, a retired lei greeter at Hilo Hattie's in Lahaina, said sometimes, she has difficulty coping with her housing situation. She said memories of the wildfire haunt her.

"It's so traumatic for me," she said. "I should be happy. I have a roof over my head and a place to sleep, but sometimes I feel sad too. It's weird."