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By Gabriela Aoun Angueira and Audrey McAvoy

The Associated Press

LAHAINA, Hawaii 鈥� Josephine Fraser worried her young family鈥檚 next home would be a tent.

Fraser and her partner, their two sons and their dog had moved nine times in as many months, from one hotel room to another, since the聽deadliest U.S. wildfire聽in a century razed her hometown of Lahaina, on Maui. They would sometimes get just 24 hours to relocate, with no immediate word where they were headed.

Then the American Red Cross warned that the hotel shelter program would soon end, and Fraser struggled to explain to her 3-year-old why they couldn鈥檛 just go home.

鈥淗e just kept asking, 鈥榃hy?鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淚t really broke me.鈥�

Like Fraser, thousands of Maui residents have faced a year of聽anxious uncertainty聽since the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire struck the historic former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom and forced some survivors to flee into the ocean. The fire killed聽at least 102 people聽and displaced 12,000 others.

Government agencies and nonprofits have offered temporary solutions for displaced residents, such as providing hotel rooms, leasing apartments, assembling prefabricated homes, and paying people to take in loved ones.

Disaster housing experts say the effort, expected to cost more than $500 million over two years, has been unprecedented in its cooperation among federal, state, county and philanthropic organizations toward keeping the community together.

But on a tourism-dependent island where affordable homes were in short supply even before the fire, a housing market聽squeezed by vacation rentals聽is undermining attempts to find long-term shelter for survivors even a year later.

Just about all the 8,000 survivors put up in hotels have been moved into other accommodations, but many of those are pricey condos once rented to visitors, and they aren鈥檛 near residents鈥� workplaces or their children鈥檚 schools.

Development of temporary homes has been slowed by the difficulties of聽clearing toxic debris, obtaining materials from thousands of miles away, blasting and grading volcanic rock, and installing water, sewer and electricity lines.

Members of at least 1,500 households have already left for other islands or states, some estimates say. Locals fear more will depart if they can鈥檛 find stable, affordable, convenient housing.

That鈥檚 particularly painful for Hawaii, where leaders聽have long worried聽the islands are losing their culture as聽housing costs fuel an exodus聽of Native Hawaiian and other local-born residents.

鈥淵ou start to change the fabric of Hawaii,鈥� said Kuhio Lewis, chief executive of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, a nonprofit that is involved in housing survivors. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what鈥檚 at stake, is the future of who Hawaii is.鈥�

Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press in an interview that the state is building transitional and long-term housing, changing laws to convert 7,000 vacation rentals to long-term rentals and swiftly settling lawsuits by fire survivors so plaintiffs can get the money they need to start rebuilding.

鈥淲ill some people leave? Of course,鈥� Green said. 鈥淏ut most will stay, and they鈥檒l really be able to stay if they get their settlements and can invest in their new houses.鈥�

Plaintiffs and the state reached a聽$4 billion global settlement聽on Aug. 2,聽according to court filings.

The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement is building 16 modular units in Lahaina and 50 in Kahului, about an hour away; one kept Fraser and her family from winding up in a tent. In May, they moved into the first unit completed in Kahului, a small, white structure with two bedrooms and one bathroom.

The neighborhood remains a dusty construction site. The location is not convenient for her job as a manager at a hotel restaurant in Lahaina, but Fraser, 22, is grateful. She can cook for her kids, and they can play outside.

鈥淓veryone鈥檚 choice is to move out of Lahaina, to move off-island, to move to the mainland, and that鈥檚 not something that we want to do,鈥� she said. 鈥淟ahaina is our home.鈥�

Jennifer Gray Thompson, the CEO of After the Fire USA, a nonprofit, said she has worked in 18 counties that have suffered massive wildfires since 2017, when she herself lived through blazes that ripped through Northern California鈥檚 wine country.

Thompson has never seen the Federal Emergency Management Agency invest so heavily in keeping a community together, she said.

鈥淢aui is the first one I鈥檝e ever seen the federal government fully listen to the community … and actually really try to do what they were asking, which was to keep people on the island,鈥� she said.

FEMA has focused on providing rentals for survivors who did not have insurance coverage for fire losses. The agency is directly leasing homes for more than 1,200 households and giving subsidies to 500 others to use on their own. Many of the rentals are in Kihei, 25 miles from Lahaina.

Still, the approach has proved tricky in part because vacation rentals and timeshares are one-quarter of the housing supply.

In October, FEMA聽raised its rates聽by 75 percent to entice landlords to rent to locals. The agency is now paying $3,000 per month for a one-bedroom unit and more than $5,100 for a three-bedroom unit. People seeking housing on their own say that has inflated the rental market more.

Frustration over the聽prevalence of vacation rentals聽after the fire prompted Maui鈥檚 mayor to propose聽eliminating them聽in areas zoned for apartments. The measure is still under consideration.

FEMA also is constructing 169 modular homes next to a similar site being built in Lahaina by the state and the Hawaii Community Foundation. Residents will begin moving into those in October. The $115 million project next to it, Ka La鈥檌 Ola, will provide 450 homes for people who aren鈥檛 eligible for FEMA assistance; the first families will arrive in the coming weeks.

Bob Fenton, FEMA鈥檚 regional administrator, told the AP the agency is even paying for survivors to fly elsewhere to live temporarily and to return when housing is ready.

鈥淥ur goal is the community鈥檚 goal,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e tried to do everything we can to support that.鈥�

Also, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement is paying people who take in displaced loved ones, providing $500 a month per guest. That has been helpful for Tamara Akiona, who with her husband bought a small condo in central Maui after she lost the multigenerational home where she lived with 10 family members in Lahaina. The money has covered food and other costs since they took in her uncle, Ron Sambrano.

鈥淲ithout my family, I鈥檇 probably be living on the beach or under a bridge or something,鈥� Sambrano said.

With stable housing, Fraser鈥檚 family can begin finding a routine once again. She works during the day while her partner watches their sons. She returns to make dinner and prepare baths before he leaves for his night shift as a restaurant server.

鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to have a roof, somewhere to call home 颅鈥� at least for now, until we go back into Lahaina,鈥� Fraser said.

Editor鈥檚 note: McAvoy reported from Honolulu.