Hawaii Fire Relief Housing program launches Monday

The Hawaii Fire Relief Housing program is set to launch Monday, connecting Maui residents displaced by wildfires with property owners statewide who can provide shelter as soon as possible.

Property owners with available rooms, dwelling units, houses and other accommodations on Maui and throughout Hawaii are welcome to join the program, which will serve affected Maui residents, according to today’s announcement by Gov. Josh Green and the Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation.

Program application forms are scheduled to go live at 8 a.m. Monday on HHFDC’s website, https://dbedt.hawaii.gov/hhfdc/, a news release said.

A list of available properties should be posted online by Tuesday , it said.

For those without internet access, a telephone hotline (808-587-0469) is set to start taking calls Monday from landlords, property managers, homeowners or displaced residents who have questions or need assistance. HHFDC staff will answer calls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, the news release said.

The public also may email staff at hhfdcfirereliefhousing@hawaii.gov once the program launches, and responses to frequently asked questions will be posted to the website.

The program, which will remain active indefinitely, is designed to serve as a referral service. It will be up to displaced residents and participating landlords and rental agents to reach terms on rental arrangements; neither party will be under any obligation to accept an agreement.

“Landlords who rent units to eligible residents displaced by the fires may be eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency and/or state funds,” the news release said, adding that more details will be released as they become available.

HHFDC staff are contacting landowners, landlords and management companies to encourage them to participate. The governor urged individual homeowners to take part as well, by opening unoccupied living spaces to folks devastated by the fires.

“This is a critical situation and time is of the essence. I am asking the people of Hawaii to consider making this significant sacrifice to help our neighbors, many of whom have lost everything they owned in a matter of minutes. Let’s show the rest of the world the meaning of aloha,” he said in the news release.

Thousands of people need housing after wildfires leveled Lahaina on Tuesday and burned homes in Kula as well. “It’s our intent to initially seek 2,000 rooms so that we can quickly get housing for those who are displaced and in need of a home. We are asking folks in the community to rent out those extra rooms, the ‘ohana units or accessory dwelling units in their homes, vacation rentals, or whatever safe and secure rooms they have available,” Green said.

HHFDC Interim Executive Director Dean Minakami said the program’s website will feature an online portal form for landlords listing available units. “Once staff verifies the validity of the units, the information for those units is being placed in a database, which will be available to those who have lost their homes or been displaced from their houses due to damage,” he said.