Hawaii’s governor admitted it may be legally challenging to prevent outsiders from purchasing distressed property on Maui despite his concerns that last week’s wildfires could permanently displace thousands of local residents.
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Opportunistic investors and real estate agents hoping to take advantage of the disastrous Maui wildfires have reportedly been making speculative offers to affected landowners. Gov. Josh Green and Attorney General Anne Lopez are looking into the viability of a moratorium preventing people outside the state from purchasing Lahaina properties, but Green said that will be difficult, Bloomberg reports.
Current law prevents the governor from imposing such a moratorium, Green said Thursday at an online forum hosted by news outlet Honolulu Civil Beat, per Bloomberg.
“The governor is not allowed to simply say a resident of Hawaii can buy this house, a resident from California can’t buy this house,” he said. “This is a very tricky legal question, and as much as we’d like to snap our fingers and just do it for local people, it’s hard.”
At least 111 people died in the wildfires that ravaged Maui last week, the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in over 100 years, per The New York Times. The fire incinerated a vast swath of the popular tourist town of Lahaina, and officials estimate the cost to rebuild from the damages may top more than $5.5B, CBS News reports.
In total, the fire destroyed at least 2,200 structures, about 86% of which were residential, according to a graphic from the Maui Emergency Management Agency.
The future impact of the wildfires on the area’s housing market is unclear — but it may halt the steady price increases the area has faced in the past year. As of July 2023, Maui County home prices were up 8.9% year-over-year, selling for a median price of $1M, per Redfin.
To rebuild from Maui’s charred ashes, Green said key stakeholders will need to break through stalemates over new construction and water use that led to a housing crisis on the island predating the fires, Bloomberg reports. An inability to build isn’t an option, Green said.
The state owns a 400-acre site outside of Lahaina it could potentially use to house displaced residents at a low cost and on an accelerated timeline, per Bloomberg. The county owns a second lot near that one. Green suggested prefab or modular homes could go up quickly to rehouse hundreds of displaced residents.
The government has relocated about 950 survivors from the blaze into vacated hotel rooms, while another 500 people have gone to Airbnb rentals.
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