The Struggle to Rebuild Lahaina: Where Is Recovery Two Years After the Fires?

On August 8, 2023, a massive wildfire tore through Lahaina, a town of 12,900 people

on the island of Maui in Hawaiʻi. Fanned by hurricane winds and fueled by dry, unmanaged grassland, the fire devastated our town, destroying historic cultural sites and burning 2,170 acres of land. The fire took the lives of at least 102 people, while destroying over 2,200 structures and causing $5.5 billion in property damage. The Lahaina fire was one of the deadliest US wildfires in history.

In response, Maui residents came together to form our organization Lahaina Strong with the goal of rebuilding our community in a way that centers the housing and other needs of Lahaina residents. Two years later, our people are still fighting to rebuild our homes and gain control over our own future. Amid the wreckage, we are resisting speculative land grabs, organizing for affordable housing, and pushing to restore traditional water rights. Our struggle speaks to the many broader challenges that communities face when disaster recovery collides with climate change, colonization, and economic recovery.

A Warning Unheeded

As it happens, this is the second time we actually had come together to create Lahaina Strong. Originally, the organization was formed in response to a smaller fire in 2018, which burned nearly as much acreage as the 2023 fire, but was situated in a far less populated part of the island. As a result, damage from the 2018 fire was considerably less—21 homes and 27 cars were wiped out, but the financial damage was a modest $4.3 million.

Our struggle speaks to the…challenges that communities face when disaster recovery collides with climate change, colonization, and economic recovery.

A year later, the County of Maui’s Emergency Management Agency dutifully produced a 66-page report with a set of recommendations for future emergency preparedness and response. State researchers warned that mismanaged agricultural lands had become dangerously flammable. Without active management, they argued, much of Hawaiʻi’s open land was a fire risk.

The 2023 Hawai’i Hazard Mitigation Plan indicates that 98 percent of wildfires in Hawaiʻi are caused by humans and that “each year, approximately 0.5% of the State of Hawaii’s total land area burns, which is equal to or greater than the proportion burned of any other state.”

Decades of land mismanagement made these matters worse. Large landholders and out-of-state owners left former sugarcane and pineapple fields untended, while droughts, worsened by climate change, dried out the landscape. Water diversions dating back to the plantation era further strained this basic resource. Despite repeated warnings, investment in wildfire prevention remained low and emergency response systems were out of date.

Fire and the Aftermath

When strong winds from Hurricane Dora downed power lines in August of 2023, the fire sparked and raced across Lahaina faster than anyone could react. Roads clogged, communications failed, and an entire town burned to the ground overnight. The tragedy exposed how historic injustices and environmental neglect have deadly consequences; the chaotic government response even prompted a PBS Frontline documentary.

In the first few days after the fire, Lahaina’s residents found that other locals were the most reliable source of support. Official aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and others was slow and sometimes disorganized.

Community members filled in the gaps by creating local hubs with donated supplies and essentials for the displaced inhabitants. The Lahaina community organized food and supply drives, raised funds, and helped its own families navigate emergency aid systems.

It was clear that this disaster recovery would not quickly lead back to business as usual, that we would be in this for the long haul, so the community demanded a rebuilding process led by survivors, one that respected Lahaina’s culture and history. In community meetings and across social media, there were calls for residents to resist outside investors looking to capitalize on the disaster.

Two years later, thousands of survivors are still without stable homes, living with relatives, in temporary rentals, or have been forced to leave Hawaiʻi altogether.

The fear of “disaster capitalism” was not abstract to us. Reports surfaced within days of the fire about offers to purchase damaged lots. Many residents, still in shock, received unsolicited calls and letters pressuring them to sell. Organizers quickly began pushing for moratoriums on land sales to nonresidents and advocating for community land ownership models.

Two Key Issues: Housing and Water

Two years later, thousands of survivors are still without stable homes, living with relatives, in temporary rentals, or have been forced to leave Hawaiʻi altogether. Hawaiʻi’s chronic shortage of affordable housing had placed local families under strain already, and Lahaina continues to be in a state of housing emergency.

Short-term vacation rentals (STRs) became a flashpoint. In Lahaina, as across Maui, STRs had proliferated over the past decade, pushing up housing prices and squeezing out longtime residents. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that prior to the fires, “Short-term rentals, driven by Airbnb and VRBO, made up 40% of the total housing supply in Lahaina’s zip code. And in Maui County more broadly, half of all condominium sales are to out-of-state buyers.”

After the fire, advocates have pushed the Maui County Council to phase out short-term rentals in Lahaina’s residential neighborhoods, arguing that these homes should be reserved for displaced and local families.

A 2025 University of Hawaiʻi report shows that phasing out transient vacation rentals (TVRs) in Maui could present an opportunity to curb the island’s housing crisis, while converting STRs to permanent housing could add “6,127 units to the long-term housing stock—a 13% increase, equivalent to a decade’s worth of new housing development.” These policies could also reduce condo prices by 20 to 40 percent, increasing affordability.

But while reports have been plentiful, progress has been slow. Legal battles over property rights and zoning changes continue to this day. Meanwhile, new reports show out-of-state buyers scooping up fire-affected lots at alarming rates.

Community leaders and Native Hawaiian groups have responded by proposing solutions like the Lahaina Community Land Trust, where land is owned collectively to guarantee affordability for generations to come. We are fighting for more than just a place to live, but who Lahaina is for.

Water has also been a topic at the center of the recovery effort. Historically, Lahaina’s thriving agricultural systems, including kalo fields and fishponds, relied on abundant water supply. However, sugar plantation agriculture has been diverted stream flows for decades and, more recently, resort developments have also depleted critical water flows.

After the fire, many residents saw water restoration as key to healing the land and protecting it against future disasters. Reforestation, food security, and cultural renewal all depend on reliable water access, therefore, community groups like Lahaina Strong have launched campaigns to reclaim diverted water streams.

In a significant victory, Hawai‘i’s Commission on Water Resource Management ordered several stream flows to be restored, prioritizing traditional uses and environmental health over corporate water demands. Still, the struggle is ongoing. Developers and large landowners have pushed back, citing economic concerns. For Lahaina, water rights represent a broader battle for survival.

What’s Next?

The Lahaina Long-Term Recovery Plan, released in December 2024, outlines a vision shaped by public input. It emphasizes affordable housing and cultural preservation. Yet security remains elusive, and many survivors have called for stronger protections against land grabbing. They are also demanding deeper commitments to community leadership and inclusion in decision-making.

Meanwhile, the grassroots organizations that carried Lahaina through the first weeks of the crisis continue to drive the work of rebuilding. Our communities are organizing to acquire land for the local land trust, continue to fight for water rights, and seek to mentor a new generation of leaders who understand that resilience means restoring connections not just between our land and culture but to one another.

The continued community-led restoration of Lahaina is an ongoing story of both resistance and resilience. It is a story of our community asserting our rights to not just survive, but to thrive, on our own terms. In an era where disasters are becoming more frequent and intense, our story of community, justice, and resilience reminds us that true restoration lies not in what we rebuild, but in how we reclaim who we are.