Hawaii economists say Lahaina locals could be priced out of rebuilt town without zoning changes
Economists in Hawaii warn that residents who survived the wildfire that destroyed much of the Maui community of Lahaina might not be able to afford to live there after it is rebuilt unless officials alter the zoning laws and make other changes
HONOLULU — Residents who survived the wildfire that leveled the Hawaii town of Lahaina might not be able to afford to live there after it is rebuilt unless officials alter the zoning laws and make other changes, economists warned Friday.
“The risk is very real,″ Carl Bonham, executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, told a virtual news conference ahead of the group’s release Friday of its quarterly state economic forecast.
Soaring housing prices have already forced many Native Hawaiians and other longtime Hawaii residents to leave the islands and move to the U.S. mainland. The wildfire that claimed at least 97 lives and destroyed 2,200 buildings in the West Maui community of Lahaina — 86% of which were residential — amplifies that problem for the survivors. Nearly 8,000 of them have been placed at 40 hotels or other accommodations around the island of Maui.
“Market prices for this new housing are likely to far exceed the already high prices that existed in Lahaina before the fire. For renters, the old housing stock that was destroyed provided opportunities for reasonable rents,” the economic report said.
A spike in housing costs would be a further burden for people — including retirees and those who worked in restaurants, hotels and shops — who lost their homes and jobs when their places of employment burned to the ground on Aug. 8, or when West Maui temporarily closed to tourism after the disaster.
West Maui, where the verdant coastline is
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