Ka Laʻi Ola is the state’s modular home community that will include 450 units and house about 1,500 residents who didn't qualify for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance.
The community is developed and managed by HomeAid Hawai’i, and Cesar Martinez, the site’s director, said the last of the units will be arriving in the next month.
“Right now we're currently sitting at 644 residents, with 244 units occupied, and those are all comprised of 226 households,” he said.
Once the modular units arrive, they’re cleaned, inspected, hooked up to infrastructure and prepared for residents.
“We are moving families in as fast as possible,” Martinez said.
On site, the units are grouped in clusters known as pods.
Earle Kukahiko’s family lost multiple homes in the 2023 wildfires, and now they live at Ka Laʻi Ola. In an interview with HomeAid, he said that previously, following the fire, they lived in a West Maui condo.
“So most of us that had insurance had to, of course, exhaust our insurance before we could get into any kind of program,” he said. “So four days before our insurance was to expire, we got a call from Ka Laʻi Ola, and we were so very fortunate.”
Initially, he wasn’t sure what to expect.
“That was one of the things that, you know, living in such close proximities, you're kind of worried, you know, what kind of neighbors you have, but our neighbors have been really, really great,” he said.
Martinez said residents are coming together and finding a much-needed sense of community. He is also a fire survivor.
“I live on site too, and people always are inviting or bringing food over or just trying to, trying to fit in, trying to just make it a community feeling, something that everyone lost,” he told HPR.
Zoe Chesson, her husband and two young kids have also found stability at Ka Laʻi Ola. She told HomeAid that as soon as her kids get home from school, they run out the door to play with other keiki in the neighborhood.
“They're gone,” she laughed. “They're immediately, ‘We want to play scooters,' balls, running around together — which is really great. I mean, that's something that was missing for sure in the interim, with so many, you know, hotels and spaces where you're not around your community, having that again — just makes you be able to take a breath, feels good to have somebody knocking on your door asking if your kids are around to play.”
Chesson’s family has a garden and shares produce with their neighbors. People take care of each other.
“That's super special, and that's one of the things that makes Lahaina so special, before and now,” she said. “And it's nice to see that that hasn't gone away, that people are still looking out for each other, and this space has done that — brought people together to continue to be neighbors.”
Located on 57 acres, Ka Laʻi Ola is set to house fire survivors for up to five years. After that, residents will need to find their own housing. Martinez said they’re encouraging people to start sooner rather than later.
“Let's not wait till the five-year mark, till you start looking for a place,” he said. “If you find something, go ahead and secure it, so that you guys can have something past those five years.”
Ka Laʻi Ola provides resources and community services onsite to support recovery. They’re working on a playground for the kids, too.
Right now, rent at Ka Laʻi Ola is free until September. After that, residents will be paying below-market rent, but officials said the amount has yet to be finalized.
Chesson knows how tough the rental market is right now.
“Financially, before being able to move into Ka Laʻi Ola, it was kind of all over the place, trying to find a rental that was reasonably priced, that would take our family, especially because we have a dog and whatnot, was really difficult,” she said.
Kukahiko is frustrated by the current housing market’s notion of “affordable.”
“They keep saying, you know, we need to build affordable homes. Well, that's, to me, a false narrative, because how affordable is affordable if our own people can't afford to buy a home?”
He and his family are hoping to rebuild their burned Lahaina homes.
In the meantime, he said he’s grateful to call Ka Laʻi Ola home.
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