Hosts of residents who have been displaced by last month’s Lāhainā fire are eligible to receive up to $1,500 per month under a new program led by Maui County.
County Mayor Richard Bissen at a news conference Tuesday unveiled the “Host Housing Support Program," where prospective host families can apply to house displaced West Maui families.
Under the program, host families can receive $375 per month per evacuee they shelter. It’s capped at $1,500 per month per host family. Any home in the state is eligible for the program.
“What we intend to do is encourage our community to assist in our families transitioning out of hotels, many of us know what has happened in the last two months,” Bissen said at Tuesday’s news conference.
The program is a partnership between the county, the American Red Cross, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation.
“Most people come up to us and ask, ‘How can I help besides volunteering or donating?’ One way they can help is by opening their homes to people who may need to move out of the hotels or want to move out of the hotels,” Bissen said.
“This is just one of those options that we are offering. And again, the idea is that these are homes that already exist. In other words, inventory is already here. We don’t have to wait for something to be built, some place to open up.”
The $4 million program also allows evacuees to stay in shelters with friends and family.
CNHA Chief Executive Officer Kūhiō Lewis said that about 25% of displaced residents have sought refuge with people they know.
“One goal that this program hopes to achieve is just to provide some immediate stability to those hosts so they can buy the added food, cover the added expenses to host those families,” Lewis said on Tuesday.
“This program … also allows others that may want to take advantage of this, recognizing that there is added costs and burden, that we could potentially increase what's available to them in the housing inventory.”
The Red Cross said about 7,000 people are being housed in its non-congregate shelter program.
