Following the Maui wildfires on Aug. 8, 2023, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement opened up a resource hub called Kākoʻo Maui.
Survivors were able to find accurate information and get help with qualifying for assistance at the hub.
The Conversation's Russell Subiono talked with Kukui Keahi, the community care navigator lead for Kako’o Maui, about the recovery process and the future of the island.
Interview Highlights
On the survivors finding housing after the Aug. 8, 2023, fires
KUKUI KEAHI: Not everyone has a house, yet. Some people are still staying with family. Some by choice. Some situations happen in Red Cross housing that they had to stay with family. There has been, I want to say, majority of my family that I know are like the few people we've helped have housing, not permanent. We have people with three-month leases, six-month leases, on a month to month. The month-to-month are the ones that are a little bit more scared of what's to come. You have those that have, who have been fortunate enough to get in through either the state program, our housing program, in CNHA or FEMA, that they're solidly they have, at least, up to about a year, which that alone, for our numbers itself, we've housed about 900 people through the CNHA program.
On how being a local organization has helped CNHA provide for survivors
KEAHI: I do genuinely think we've made such a huge impact with that till this day, you have people who won't go anywhere. But here we've made new friends, new families. We have the usuals that come. We have serviced over 5,700 individuals in here. Of the 5,700 about 3,800 were returned visits, and a lot of that just means, like, they've come once, and then they just keep coming. So we've been very fortunate to build a pilina with a lot of our community.
On whether wildfire survivors are getting accurate information
KEAHI: I think there's people who want to know accurate information, and I think there's people who like to think they know the accurate information. I've come to realize that a lot of people say things without asking the questions first, and they just jump into certain things and they assume things. Social media has a way of just flying off the walls, and so there's people who do that, where they just hear one thing and they go with it, versus asking the questions. I've had to learn to refrain from social media a lot during this time. There's people who mislead our other survivors, and it's unfortunate, because other survivors, again, don't want to ask the question, so they believe the first thing they read, or the first thing someone says, the information is out there. I think if you ask the right person, if you ask the right questions, if you go to get the help — you just have to ask. And I think for some people, they don't want to, but you have to. So the information is out there. There's been information put out there to the public that is the truth. But there's people who are seen in the community as being a value in some other sense that puts information out, or the number one contributor on certain pages, and they're believed, and it's unfortunate because it's not the truth.
On whether CNHA has been able to expand its services
KEAHI: There is about 12 programs that we've launched since we've opened, and it's initially just our resource center. We have two builds in Lahaina that are same as our housing, but a little bit separate. So we have two sites with modular homes. It's going to be a total of 66 homes at the end of the build. We have 50 in Kahului area, so there's just a county parcel that's given just a lot bigger. So that one's 50 modular homes. And then we have a Lahaina site that we just built. We just moved in our second family yesterday, and that was going to be 16, both build their two-bedroom, one-bath. So that's Ke Ao Maluhia, Laʻikū and then we have our distribution center, which is where we were doing short-term supplies initially, and that's the day-to-day, the toiletries, the food, the diapers. And then we're now moving more into, like a long-term supply, eventually trying to get into, like the building materials that's been donated and giving back. We've launched free development grant, which is for any owner-occupied property. They get a $15,000 grant to help with anything pre-development, serving, permitting, and paying down the mortgage. If they still have that. We bring in AIA, which is Architects Institute. Architects that come in, they come in weekly to sit with our community. They've helped us build a website to guide people. This guy's been instrumental in pushing that as well. We've been able to get architects who's willing to either do zero cost drawing with plans that are pre-developed and or low-cost for them to kind of design what they like.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Aug. 9, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1. Tori DeJournett adapted this story for the web.
