Did you know that the Maui Housing Hui performs research as one of the many ways it works to help improve our community? Data assists our leadership to make informed decisions and it helps our community understand the problems it needs to solve. It is how we provide evidence of what is truly happening in our community.

In pursuit of providing data based solutions, the Maui Housing Hui conducted a short 5 question survey asking our community about their experiences with the FEMA Direct Lease Program. The results showed that while FEMA may have helped some Maui residents, it hasn’t worked perfectly. Through this research process, we were able to identify some of the specific ways in which FEMA’s Direct Lease Program has not been successful.

Rising rental prices, ineffectual placement of tenants into long term rentals, and tenants being asked to move so landlords can capture FEMA rates are all themes we saw in the results of our survey. We’ve been distributing our report to grassroots organizations and government officials alike in the hopes that community voices are heard where they are needed most.

If you’d like to read the report you can find it here.