A Maui program kept Lahaina families together by paying households to take in fire survivors
As many as one-third of people displaced by the August 2023 Maui fires wound up in the homes of friends and family in the weeks after the disaster
By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA
Published - Dec 23, 2024, 08:37 AM ET
Last Updated - Dec 23, 2024, 08:37 AM EST
WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — The Lahaina home Tamara Akiona shared with 10 people was never quiet, and she loved it that way.
Akiona, her husband, uncle, stepdaughter, and her best friend’s family filled the house once owned by her grandparents, with four bedrooms, two living rooms and a spacious backyard.
She remembers the happy anticipation of hearing the front door open and not knowing who'd come home. Someone was always in the kitchen cooking. Neighbors gathered in the evening to chat and share food from their gardens. Kids chased the shave-ice man as he rolled past in his truck.
“That’s the stuff I miss,” said Akiona, 51. “We just don’t have that anymore.”
