A first-time home buyer assistance program for fire survivors has gotten an overwhelming amount of interest. Maui County said it has received more than 1,800 applications from people who rented units before the wildfires and now want to buy homes.
The program is part of the $1.6 billion in federal disaster recovery funding Maui County has been allocated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It’s being distributed through the county’s Hoʻokumu Hou program.
Jeannie Sutton is project manager for Horne, a company contracted by Maui County to implement the federal funding. She shared information with Lahaina residents at a recent community meeting.
“This program is for first-time home buyers, so you can't currently own a home and must not have owned a home within the last three years in order to be eligible,” Sutton said.
“They are prioritizing those households that are 80% AMI [average median income] or less. So essentially, for a household of four, if you make less than $107,700 a year, that is a priority group for the Home Buyer Assistance Program. As a result of the wide success of that program, we are going to need to close applications on Sept. 30.”
The maximum award per applicant is set at $600,000. Based on the available funding of $92.5 million for the program, the county estimated only around 150 applications of the 1,800 may receive awards. But staff said they’re hoping to help as many people as possible.
The county’s Single-Family Homeowner Reconstruction and Single-Family Homeowner Reimbursement programs for fire survivors will remain open beyond this month.
So far, there have been 122 applications for the Single-Family Homeowner Reconstruction program and 33 for Single-Family Homeowner Reimbursement.
Eligible residents can find more information or submit applications online or in person. Fire survivors can meet with a Hoʻokumu Hou intake specialist from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays at Lahaina Gateway or at Maui Mall in Kahului.
