Fishing in troubled waters, investors extort owners for Lahaina land
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Governor of Hawaii Josh Green says Lahaina's projected $5 billion in damage from wildfires will take a long time to repair.
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Charred remains of a burned neighborhood in Lahaina, Hawaii (AFP)
Although the flames on Maui, Hawaii, have not yet been put out, Lahaina residents are already concerned that investors would try to use the catastrophe as a land development opportunity.
Towns like Lahaina, where 80% of the town's houses have been damaged or destroyed, bear the scars of the flames that ravaged Maui last week.
Josh Green, the governor of Hawaii, estimates that the state had lost almost $5.6 billion and that just rebuilding Maui might cost that much.
However, investors see a chance while thousands of island residents struggle to recover and find refuge.
A Kako'o Haleakal member of a non-profit organization said in a video posted to Instagram that land investors were already contacting Lahaina homeowners who had lost their homes and offering to buy their land.
"I am so frustrated with inventors and realtors calling the families who lost their home offering to buy their land," the person in the video says.
"How dare you do that to our community right now."
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Uncertainty surrounds the investors or lenders that the speaker in Kko'o Haleakal's video was referring to.
Mark Stefl, one of the locals, told USA Today that he was approached by developers to sell them his land but turned them down.
"I’m not gonna sell it," he told the newspaper. "I’m going to stay here. I love it here, as messed up as it is."
A Native Hawaiian activist named Keoni, a Kanaka Maoli Kia'i, tweeted on August 13 asking people who are receiving calls from realtors to write down their names so that they could expose them.
If you are from Lāhainā & are receiving phone calls from realtors asking to purchase your property following the fire, please record their name, company & home address for us & post it.
— Keoni #ProtectPololūValley🔺 (@Keoni_DiFranco) August 13, 2023
The fires that started last week have forced more than 4,000 people to flee their homes and at least 101 people have died as a result.
Green predicted that as cadaver dogs continue to search the regions, the death toll would rise in the days ahead.
Little warning was given to Maui residents as the fires quickly reached several neighborhoods and villages. Before running for safety, some didn't have time to grab their possessions.
A 25-year-old Lahaina Native named Richy Palalay told The Associated Press that the fire destroyed his place of employment, his neighborhood, the homes of his friends, and possibly even his own house.
Mr. Palalay expressed concern that investors will take advantage of the chance to purchase the property that villagers live on for less money in order to construct pricey resorts.
"I’m more concerned of big land developed coming in and seeing this charred land as an opportunity to rebuild," Mr. Palalay told the AP on Saturday.
Zillow estimates that the average home in Lahaina is worth roughly $1 million, making it more expensive for the average person to purchase a home there.
But Maui has become a popular and more reasonably priced destination due to the growth of hotels, resorts, and residences there.
"One of the things that we as a community and as a state is going to be faced with, is how do we begin to address the long-term recovery, rebuilding, keeping people here and not selling off what losses they had and moving," Archie Kalepa, a resident of Lahaina told The Washington Post.
"We want to make sure we keep Lahaina, Lahaina," Mr. Kalepa added.
According to John Dimuro, a resident of Maui for more than 40 years, the government ought to step in.
"The government should just say 'no, you’re not allowed to develop,'" Mr. Dimuro said on Monday. "Say no, just flat out no."
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In a press conference on Monday, Governor Green stated that he has contacted the attorney general to "explore options to do a moratorium on any sales of properties that have damaged or destroyed."
"Moreover I would caution people that is going to be a very long time before any growth or housing can be built and so you will be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here," he said.
