The Lahaina fire left the Frasers and their two young children without a home. They have moved nine times over the past nine months while living out of hotel rooms.
“That's the really hard thing about being the situation is that we don't know what's next," said Josephine Fraser. "We can never really make have a plan because we don't know when the contract with Red Cross will end, or if we would have to be out. They don't really tell us too much information.”
Fraser and her ‘ohana just got the keys to a home they can settle into for the next few years.
It’s the first of 50 modular homes at the Ke Ao Maluhia development in Kahului. They move in Friday.
“Even though it is also not in Lahaina, it's still something stable for now," she said. "And it's awesome because we'll have a kitchen and everything. When we were staying at the hotels, we had Red Cross meals, and they stopped doing that, from three meals a day to only one meal a day. So that was a challenge as well.”
Ke Ao Maluhia will be completed this summer. The $9 million project is a collaboration between the state, county, Hawai‘i Community Foundation, Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement and other agencies. It's managed by CNHA on land owned by the county at Maui Lani.
The two-bedroom modular homes are just under 600 square feet each. Monthly rent is $2,500.
Fraser said they were denied four times by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, so she had to look elsewhere for housing options.
“I am not approved for the FEMA direct lease or FEMA assistance," she explained. "They needed a landlord letter from me and my landlord just didn't want to write a letter for us.”
She waited for any calls or emails back until finally, they heard from CNHA with good news.
“Come to find out that it was the first home out of the whole entire project that they're doing was just so awesome. It was just like, wow.”
CNHA CEO Kūhiō Lewis said the project broke ground three months ago.
"Today marks the strength of partnerships and is a testament to what can be achieved when government, the private sector, nonprofit organizations, and the community work together,” Lewis said.
“Delivering the first home at Ke Ao Maluhia through the Maui Interim Housing Plan is a significant milestone for families and a clear indication of our collective commitment to addressing Maui's housing crisis.”
Ke Ao Maluhia is one of several modular housing developments underway on Maui for fire survivors.
Ka Laʻi Ola in Lahaina will create 450 units on 54 acres. The studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom houses are specifically to support fire survivors who are not eligible for FEMA aid. The inter-agency collaborative effort will cost $115 million and is the largest interim housing development so far for those displaced by the fires.
Gov. Josh Green said the development will help some of those in the most need after the fires.
“We are especially glad to bring this project forward because it will serve a community that has not been able to receive disaster aid from FEMA," he said. "These residents have been especially vulnerable after the wildfires and to offer them this hope in the form of housing is particularly rewarding.”
FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the state and county, just broke ground on another interim housing site in Lahaina. Nearly 170 units will be located on the 34-acre site and will take about six months to complete.
The Frasers can stay at Ke Ao Maluhia for up to five years. While it’s still temporary, it gives them hope.
“It's been very stressful, really hard," Fraser said. "But we just have to stay strong for our kids. So that, you know, there's something to look forward to in the future, which this, now, is, like, just so awesome. And it's just, the hope is there, you know, that eventually, when it's time to rebuild and go back to Lahaina, we’re able to.”
But no matter where fire survivors find housing, there’s no place like home.
“My goal is to come back to Lahaina — and be home," she said.
