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Rent control might be needed as Maui landlords continue to demand more money for limited housing to accommodate survivors of the Aug. 8 wildfires, according to officials with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement who say victims might need to consider moving off-island for a year or more.
Fire survivors are now suffering from Maui’s notoriously long permitting process and a thicket of regulations that has stalled island projects for decades.
More than four months since the deadliest wildfire in modern American history burned Lahaina to the ground, nearly 6,200 people are still looking for a place to live while their beloved Maui town is rebuilt.
Four months after the deadliest US wildfire in modern history, thousands of people have yet to find stable housing
"Is there any greater imperative in Santa Cruz County as 2023 slides into the great unknown of 2024 than housing? How much, how high, for where ... and for whom?" writes Sentinel Opinion Editor Don Miller. "In the waning light, here’s an updated dispatch from the island of Maui, where last summer I reported on the fires that destroyed much of the old whaling port of Lahaina, killing at least 100 people and leaving an estimated 7,000 people homeless."