A map shows the three zones in Lahaina — 2C, Kuuipo Street; 2D, Aa Street; and 2E, Lokia Street — that will reopen for residents to check on their properties on Monday and Tuesday. Screenshot of MauiRecovers.org
Residents of three more zones in Lahaina will be allowed to access their properties next week as Maui County continues to reopen areas impacted by last month’s wildfire.
Restrictions will be lifted for zones Zones 2C – Kuuipo Street, 2D – Aa Street and 2E – Lokia Street from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, according to a county announcement Thursday.
Reentry vehicle passes will be required and will be distributed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Saturday at both the Lahaina Civic Center and the Maui County Kalana O Maui building front lawn. Two vehicle passes will be available per property owners, and two vehicle passes will be available per rental dwelling. Optional personal protective equipment kits will be available during the vehicle pass distribution.
The following documents may be used to prove ownership or residency to receive a pass:
• Property deed or title clearly showing the resident’s name as the property owner.
• Bills for utilities such as electricity, water or gas, addressed to the resident’s name and property address. These bills should be recent and show consistent usage.
• Property tax records that list the resident as the property owner. To access county tax records, visit www.mauipropertytax.com.
• Lease agreement with the renter’s name, landlord’s name and property address.
• Hawaii driver’s license with the resident’s current address.
• Vehicle registration that can show the property address.
• Voter registration card listing the resident’s address in Lahaina.
• Financial statements sent to the resident’s Lahaina address.
• Insurance documents, such as homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policies with the resident’s Lahaina address.
• Notarized affidavit from a property owner or landlord confirming residency or ownership.
Access to the area will be through Kaniau Road off Honoapiilani Highway and will be right turn only. After Tuesday, entry through the checkpoint will be available 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily for area residents with a vehicle pass or ID, the county said.
Services will be provided on-site for residents, including water, shade, washing stations, portable toilets, medical and mental health care, Maui Bus transportation from local hotel shelters and language assistance. Transportation from hotels on Maui Bus circulator shuttles will have extended hours during the reentry days from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For more details and a map of reopened zones, visit www.mauirecovers.org/recovery/reentry.
As people continue to return to their properties, state officials and the Red Cross are also working to find longer-term housing arrangements for those staying in hotels.
On Thursday, Gov. Josh Green announced that hundreds more people still need to complete eligibility requirements to remain in the Red Cross’ noncongregate sheltering program, which allows people to stay in more private accommodations like hotels instead of group shelters like gyms.
More than half of the 3,164 households using the program have established that they are fully eligible to continue in the program until transitional housing, such as an apartment or vacation rental, is available, the Governor’s Office said.
As of this week, about 800 households had not yet established full eligibility and are receiving a letter asking them to contact the Red Cross within 48 hours, by phone or in person at the hotels where they are staying, to provide the necessary information.
Access to the program may end if they do not respond, or if:
• They did not live in the area impacted by the fires.
• Their home was not destroyed or otherwise made uninhabitable.
• They were not an owner/renter in the affected area, or a household member of the owner/renter, before the disaster.
Today marks the end of the “safe harbor” period, which is when the eligibility requirements for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster assistance do not apply in order to be in the sheltering program. Green has said that even after the safe harbor period, the state and Red Cross will make sure that people have a place to stay, either in a hotel or an alternative such as a vacation rental. However, residents need to provide data to the Red Cross to determine eligibility.
“Safe harbor is really just to make sure everybody has a safe place to stay in the immediacy,” Matthew Wells, regional communications director for the American Red Cross, Pacific Islands Region, told The Maui News on Thursday evening. “Now is when we’re focusing in on establishing representatives who are going to work with all the survivors to make sure they have a plan for longer-term recovery, that they have medical, mental health, three meals a day, all wraparound services. At this point we need to start looking more towards long-term recovery and this is simply the next step of that.”
Wells said teams are working with households that they haven’t gotten information for yet. The Red Cross is mainly seeking people’s FEMA and Red Cross registration numbers.
“Proving eligibility really comes down to, did somebody have a primary residence that they either owned or rented that was majorly affected — so, destroyed, or made uninhabitable by the fires?” Wells said.
He added that there are Red Cross representatives stationed in the shelter hotel lobbies to talk to people and help them through the process. But, “if we reached out multiple times to people and they simply are not getting back to us or they do not actively want to take the step to prove eligibility, then there is a chance that we would need to ask them to leave,” Wells said.
The Red Cross has a contract for the hotel rooms that are available through February and is continuing to work with hotels and properties that have opened up space.
“What we really want people to know is that if they have a room now and they’re eligible and they keep in the noncongregate sheltering program, they will not lose a room,” Wells said. “There will be a point where we need to readjust our footprint. That might be like consolidating hotels and rooms available to us and where those can be. So we may ask people to move from one room to another, but they will not lose their room.”
Although the formal deadline to apply for noncongregate sheltering was early in September, the Red Cross has continued to accept households on a case-by-case basis if their circumstances prevented them from signing up in time. Today will be the final day to register households for noncongregate sheltering.
“Citizenship is not a factor in determining eligibility, and the Red Cross is not an arm of the government, so we will never share information about immigration status with anyone else,” Brad Kieserman, vice president for disaster operations and logistics with the Red Cross, said in a news release Thursday. “Our whole goal in confirming eligibility is to make sure these services go to the people who were displaced from their homes by the Maui fires.”
* Managing Editor Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.
A map shows the three zones in Lahaina — 2C, Kuuipo Street; 2D, Aa Street; and 2E, Lokia Street — that will reopen for residents to check on their properties on Monday and Tuesday. Screenshot of MauiRecovers.orgToday's breaking news and more in your inbox
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