Hawaii Governor Threatens Emergency Orders to House Wildfire Survivors

Josh Green aims to convert 3,000 vacation rentals into long-term housing, as over 6,000 Maui residents remain in hotels four months after the deadly wildfire.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green has threatened to use emergency orders to convert 3,000 temporary vacation rentals into long-term housing for survivors displaced by the Maui wildfire in August.
As of Thursday, there are still 6,297 residents living in hotels more than four months after the wildfire, which killed at least 97 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century.
The governor's office has announced the creation of a $150 million fund to help those who lost family members or were injured in the wildfires, with beneficiaries expected to receive payments of over $1 million as early as the April-June quarter of next year.
FEMA has offered to pay the same rent level that short-term rental operators earned last year for their units, covering approximately 2,000 families, while the state of Hawaii and private philanthropists will cover the remaining 1,000 who do not qualify for federal aid.
Governor Green intends for the measures to last two years, enough time for more permanent housing solutions to be built on Maui.