Hundreds of wildfire evacuees relocate again as West Maui tourism rebounds
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Some 850 Lahaina evacuees will move out of three Kaanapali hotels starting Wednesday into other properties — a harsh reality of tourism’s return to West Maui.
“It’s incredibly traumatic. There weren’t a lot of dry eyes in the room when we were having this session with the Red Cross,” said Leslee Matthews, outreach team lead of Maui Rapid Response.
She says some fire evacuees have moved eight times since flames destroyed Lahaina almost four months ago, leaving at least 100 people dead and burning thousands of homes to the ground.
Special Section: Maui Wildfires Disaster
Lisa Jones and her dog Chloe will be among those leaving the Westin in Kaanapali this week.
She’ll move Thursday to another hotel in Kahului. It’ll be her fourth move since the Aug. 8 disaster.
“I’ll probably have to leave Maui,” said Jones.
Jones lived in Lahaina for 25 years, lost her job, and Tuesday said goodbye. It was her last day as a volunteer for the Maui Humane Society feeding and trapping stray cats in the Lahaina burn zone.
“I lost my own cats in the fire. It’s been helpful for me to go in. I’ll miss the job a lot,” she said.
In January, with no permanent housing solution, she says she’ll have no choice but to leave her island home and those who’ve supported her to live with family in California.
“It’s been really sad and I think honestly, I think the goal of some of these guys is to get us to leave Maui all together and I think they are going to succeed,” Jones said.
Government officials and aid agencies have repeatedly said no one will be left homeless, but that evacuees may have to move before permanent housing solutions are found.
Late Tuesday, Maui County mayor Richard Bissen moved forward with a plan to increase housing for wildfire survivors. He submitted a bill that would exempt owners of short-term vacation rentals from paying property taxes if they covert their units into long-term rentals. This also applies to timeshares and non-owner-occupied homes. But to make up for the lost county revenue, property owners who do not participate would be taxed more. The exemptions would run from next February through June of 2025. The county council will hear the bill next Tuesday.
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