Hundreds of Lāhainā residents may be left without a housing plan starting Friday. Maui Rapid Response, an ahupuaʻa-based community disaster response team, is scrambling to find solutions.
Safe Harbor is an American Red Cross program that goes into effect after a natural disaster. Everyone affected by the disaster is given housing. After that, those who did not apply for or do not qualify for Red Cross or Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster assistance must find new housing.
The Safe Harbor period following the Maui wildfires ends Friday, Sept. 29.
“We are starting to experience people that are falling through the cracks and there's more and more of those people,” said Nicole Huguenin, co-director of Maui Rapid Response. “It's been really hard to figure out how to resolve their housing issue.”
Friday's deadline will affect those who were living without housing before the fire. She said there are more than 100 Lāhainā residents in this category, who can’t just return to the places they lived for decades.
“We know of at least 115 people but every time we show up to a meeting that number changes and we got two days left,” she said. “And the only answer we have right now is a half-built tent space that all the tents haven’t even been delivered yet.”
Huguenin said Maui Rapid Response was one of the organizations tasked by the governor’s office with opening a tent shelter space for nearly 200 people. They were given less than two weeks' notice for the project.
Without a clear transitional housing plan in place, people are being given less than 24 hours' notice to leave their current housing. Huguenin said there’s mixed messaging and a lack of clarity from FEMA, Red Cross, and the state government.
“What I do know is that the Safe Harbor law can only be extended by the governor and he chose not to do that,” Huguenin said.
However, when HPR contacted Gov. Josh Green’s office, a spokesperson said it was a FEMA decision, and not up to the governor. A FEMA representative said FEMA funds Safe Harbor but it is a Red Cross-directed program.
A Red Cross spokesperson told HPR on Thursday night that if alternative options are not yet available, no one will be left shelterless.
“If the state agencies have not finalized those sheltering options by the Sep. 29 deadline, the Red Cross will allow them to remain in the hotels until those additional sheltering options are finalized,” the spokesperson said via email. “The pre-disaster homeless currently in hotels will not need to leave their hotels until those sheltering solutions are finalized.”
It’s also unclear just how many people will be affected by the Safe Harbor expiration. Huguenin said it will impact people who did not sign up or qualify for Red Cross and FEMA assistance. That could also include those who can’t verify a lease, such as multi-generational families under one roof or those who stayed in a room without a formal rental agreement.
“It's really hard to make sure that we are catching people and they're not falling through the cracks, when it feels like the dates just don't line up, the numbers don't line up. It's unclear who to talk to resolve issues,” she said.
“We really want to have a trampoline here so people can bounce back, rather than pouring concrete for people to fall flat on their face. That's what it feels like — we're being set up for people to fall flat on their face.”
