It’s shower and laundry day at Holomua Road in Pāʻia, where nearly 30 Maui residents live unsheltered.
“Hey Danny, come on in, there’s butter rolls and sushi, and we got some cold water over there!” said Mōʻī Kawaʻakoa, as she welcomed residents to the tent. She leads a hui called Holomua Outreach that's been working to support the unhoused community there over the past year.
Once lined with piled-up rubbish, the road is now cleaner thanks to regular community cleanups by residents and volunteers. There’s a makeshift hub with donated food, water and supplies. Kawaʻakoa also connects residents to support services like SNAP, or food stamps, and helps them get state ID cards.
“What matters is breaking through those barriers,” she said. “Walking out of those facilities, successful that I got seven out of eight people their IDs. The whole community to come over here and shower and laundry, cleaning up the community, and connecting our sheltered community here, bridging that gap by cleanups.”
Every two weeks, Maui Rescue Mission brings its mobile shower and laundry trailer to Holomua.
Scott Hansen, the executive director of the organization, makes regular rounds of the island’s unsheltered communities.
“It's like a one-stop shop kind of thing, so people that have a hard time with transportation, or don't know where to go to get the help they need, it all comes to them,” Hansen said. “We also are trying to create a sense of family, ‘ohana, a sense of community, so that people don't feel like they're just in this on their own and they're just trying to figure it all out on their own.”
At Holomua Outreach, the unsheltered community is close to Kawaʻakoa’s heart. She said her dad has been homeless for decades, and her sister lives at Holomua Road.
Some there say they became houseless because of the high cost of rent, and others couldn’t find a place that would accommodate their dogs.
The work of Holomua Outreach is supported by Maui Rapid Response.
“In November 2023, I started doing outreach here, and I've been here ever since, and it's been a blessing, and it's been the most rewarding job that I've ever had,” she said.
During outreach days, Kawaʻakoa sits with residents talking story and taking point-in-time information for grant data.
Nuʻu Fau has been living at Holomua for about seven months. Before that, he rented a house with his 5-year-old son and his son’s mother. While those two are living with relatives, he says he tries to keep busy to keep from thinking too much about his son.
Now, his life goals include getting his GED.
“That is one of my top five goals,” he said. That list includes forgiving his family and sending his son to college.
Kawaʻakoa has also helped bring the voices of unsheltered residents to advocate for themselves.
Over the summer, the Maui County Council passed a bill that would install gates on Holomua Road. That’s in response to concerns about fire safety for the nearby Pāʻia Town, which is surrounded by open land. The Maui Fire Department said it responded to 50 fires on Holomua Road between January and June of this year.
Those living there say they’re getting blamed for fires they don’t start and for the trash others leave on the remote road. They also say gating poses a risk to the road’s use as an evacuation route for nearby communities.
Holomua houseless resident Tracy Shaffer testified at a council meeting.
“Any of the fires that were there are not us, we don’t do fires like that,” she said, adding that the Maui Fire Department showed her how to make safe cooking fires.
Residents say they’ve been the ones to call the fire department when they’ve witnessed teenagers speeding through, setting fires.
The bill also calls for an overnight curfew. That has not been enforced, and gates have not yet been installed. But it’s concerning to Shaffer and others living on Holomua, who say that’s their only home.
“I have me and my dog, that’s all I got, and my clothes, and I where am I going to go? I have nowhere to go,” she said, becoming emotional.
“We do care about Holomua,” said Kawaʻakoa’s sister, Tania, during the council meeting. “That is our home, why would we do that [start fires]?”
Kawaʻakoa has plans to find those living at Holomua a safe, permanent location.
“We have a lot of big goals for next year,” she said. “One of our hugest goals is getting a piece of ‘āina, so we can move on to the next level of recovery and healing.”
In the meantime, a recent silent auction fundraiser with prizes donated by local businesses helped raise money for winter gear for Holomua residents, and veterinary services for their pets.
Through a partnership with Malama Maui Nui, a dumpster will now be available every other week for those living at Holomua to throw away their rubbish and keep the area clean. Kawa’akoa also plans to create opportunities for employment, job training and educational classes, along with recovery through cultural practices and agriculture.
You can visit huiholomuaoutreach.org/malama for volunteer opportunities and updates.
