Six months after the Aug. 8 wildfires destroyed their town, some multigenerational Lahaina families have not yet found long-term housing.
Leimoana Faʻalogo's seven-member family includes her grandmother, parents, husband, siblings and a dog.
The close-knit Tongan family shares a car to get around, which makes moving to Kahului or Kula difficult. Plus, their jobs are in Lahaina.
"Because we all work, we kind of take turns to see who's gonna walk grandma if she needs to do laundry or drive somewhere," Fa’alogo said.
They deeply feel they need to stay together as one household. Many immigrant families are in the same situation.
The family was first placed in a Wailea hotel. Now they're at the Royal Lahaina Resort, which is only housing fire survivors. The hotel told HPR it will not take reservations until January 2025.
The hotel has had to expand its laundry facilities, upgrade gym equipment, and repurpose conference rooms to make space for child care, medical care, and government agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross.
Faʻalogo said the Royal Lahaina has been accommodating and helpful, but it's not easy to live in a hotel.
"We don't have a kitchen, we don't have a living room. It's just a standard hotel room. And six months has been a while and we know we have a long road ahead of us, and we know it's gonna be longer," she said. "We're just trying to adjust."
HPR asked FEMA about situations to accommodate multigenerational families. Region 9 Administrator Bob Fenton said that, so far, the largest home they have been able to place a family in was a seven-bedroom unit.
"My parents or my grandma, it's hard explaining to them what's happening or how to deal with Red Cross, or how to deal with FEMA, because there are terms that they use or words that we can't translate into our language," Faʻalogo said.
"It's just been hard because they're confused sometimes or they think it's easy — just like go to FEMA and do it. But there's a process. They don't understand that there's a long process behind it."
FEMA is trying to accommodate those who have special needs or those with children, but they asked for patience and flexibility when possible as housing is so very tight.
"We just appreciate all the help from outside and all the donations that's been coming in even until today... and we just feel the prayers and the love from everyone outside," Faʻalogo told HPR.
This story aired on The Conversation on Feb. 9, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Sophia McCullough adapted this story for the web.
