One year following the devastating wildfires on Maui, Hawaiʻi, the Biden-Harris Administration is continuing to pursue a coordinated and comprehensive Federal response, working side by side with our State and local partners, to ensure the long-term recovery of survivors and impacted communities. In addition to continuing to assist the people of Maui in their greatest time of need – including nearly $3 billion in Federal support to response, recovery, and rebuilding efforts – the Administration is also working to build the long-term resilience of Hawaiʻi and making significant investments to prevent another tragedy like this from happening again.
To mark the one-year anniversary, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell and U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore Merrell traveled to Maui this week to join Chief Federal Response Coordinator Robert Fenton along with State, local, and community leaders to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the wildfires and observe ongoing recovery efforts.
As President Biden made clear during his visit to Maui last year, the Biden-Harris Administration will be with the people of Maui every step of the way, no matter how long it takes, to recover and rebuild from these unprecedented wildfires. Throughout this long-term recovery and rebuilding effort, the Administration will continue to incorporate the voices and knowledge of the Native Hawaiian Community in respecting and preserving sacred lands, culture, and traditions.
Over the past year, the Administration has provided nearly $385 million dollars in assistance to individuals and households for response and recovery efforts, including nearly $300 million to provide safe housing to displaced survivors with damaged or destroyed homes. Additionally, the Administration has also provided more than $500 million to support debris removal, infrastructure rebuilding, and other emergency protective measures. The President continues to urge Congress to pass the Administration’s supplemental funding request which will help Maui to rebuild, including by providing critical funding for long-term housing.
Working alongside State and County partners, the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities for ongoing and long-term coordinated Federal response and recovery efforts include:
- Moving residents from temporary shelters into longer term housing solutions and supporting home rebuilding efforts.
- FEMA continues to work closely with State officials to relocate survivors from hotel shelter into longer-term housing. In the immediate aftermath of the fires, more than 4,000 displaced households sheltered in hotels. Today, that number is down to 40.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is also making changes to key loan programs to better support home rebuilding efforts and ensure that any newly reconstructed housing stock supports the resilience that has come to define the local community. Earlier this year, HUD introduced a package of enhancements aimed at revitalizing the Federal Housing Administration’s 203(k) program, which allows borrowers to include the cost of repair and renovation for a property within the mortgage being used to purchase or refinance a home. HUD is providing Maui residents an additional year to use its 203(h) loan program, which allows impacted residents to access 100 percent financing to rebuild their homes post-disaster. HUD also recently announced its third extension of the foreclosure moratorium for Maui County, which will remain in effect through January 1, 2025. HUD also awarded a total of $8.2 million in Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing (RUSH) funding to the State of Hawai‘ito address the needs of individuals and families who are at risk of homelessness and have needs that are not already being met by other Federal disaster relief programs.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is on track to finish earthwork and utilities installation for the first Federal temporary group housing site, which will offer 169 units for wildfire survivors, by the end of October. FEMA will then equip and install modular units so that eligible survivors can begin moving into this longer-term housing this Fall.
- Removing debris so that residents and business owners can begin rebuilding their homes and businesses, which will aid in community renewal. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has removed debris from nearly 98 percent of residential properties impacted by the fires. In the wake of the wildfires, President Biden made additional disaster funding available to the State of Hawaiʻi, unlocking the Federal government’s ability to cover all eligible expenses for debris removal and emergency protective measures on the County of Maui. The President authorized the Federal cost share for debris removal to be increased from 75 percent to 100 percent for 180 days within the first 270 days of the incident. The President also authorized the Federal cost share for emergency protective measures to be increased to 100 percent of the total eligible costs for a 90-day period that the Governor selects within the first 180 days of the incident.
- Ensuring students can return to school and continue learning. At the direction of the President to enable Maui students to return to school as soon as possible following the fires, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with FEMA and the State of Hawai‘i, designed and constructed a 38-building, 30-classroom campus designed for up to 600 elementary school students in a record 95 days to replace the former King Kamehameha elementary school that suffered irreparable fire damage. Impacted students resumed schooling on April 1, 2024, in time for the fourth quarter of the academic year, which was a major step toward restoring some normalcy for impacted children, parents, and teachers.
- Enhancing the resilience of Hawaiʻi’s landscapes and infrastructure to prevent another tragedy. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate and U.S. Fire Administration – along with Hawaiʻi Governor Josh Green, M.D., Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen, and Hawai‘i Department of Defense Adjutant General Kenneth Hara – announced the planned deployment of 64 wildfire sensors for operational testing and evaluation,along with 16 mobile sensors ready to deploy as needed. As of August 2024, all 80 sensors have been installed. This innovative technology will enable first responders to suppress an initial blaze before it spreads and provide communities with additional time to make life-saving evacuation decisions. The U.S. Department of the Interior also recently announced a $20 million investment to bolster climate resilience in Hawaiʻi – including several communities on Maui – by restoring native ecosystems and plants, which has the co-benefit of enhancing food security while incorporating Indigenous Knowledge and practices. In late July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced more than $68 million to fund efforts to build a resilient future for Hawai‘iagainst increased heat, drought, flooding, sea level rise and wildfires, including through Native Hawaiian stewardship and regional knowledge-sharing.
These efforts complement ongoing work to further support long-term recovery of Maui, including a Maui County-led draft long term recovery plan, which is expected to publish later this year.
While nothing can bring back the lives and livelihoods lost to these devastating fires, these actions underscore President Biden’s commitment to standing alongside the people of Maui as they continue to recover, rebuild, and heal in the years ahead.
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