The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved Hawaii’s request to extend Financial Assistance and Direct Temporary Housing Assistance for another year, now through February 10, 2026. The 18-month assistance period was originally scheduled to end on February 10, 2025 .

Although the U.S. Small Business Administration’s deadline for economic injury disaster loans passed Saturday, the SBA can still accept late applications if the delay was due to circumstances beyond its control.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on Wednesday urged the Senate in Washington, D.C., to take additional steps, including providing disaster relief funds, to support survivors of the Maui wildfires that occurred on 8 August 2023. .

“It’s now been more than 15 months since ferocious wildfires leveled Lahaina last August, destroying 2,200 structures — mostly homes — and displacing more than 12,000 people,” Schatz said. “For more than a year, survivors and their families have moved from one temporary housing unit to another, struggling to find any semblance of stability.”

He pointed out that finding new jobs remains a challenge due to lagging tourism and that rebuilding small businesses has been difficult without access to capital and a robust workforce. In addition to these obstacles, survivors and the larger Maui community continue to face immense mental pain and challenges, he said.

“They’re doing everything they can to get back on their feet for themselves and their families, their communities,” Schatz said. “But the simple fact is, they can’t do it alone; they need help from the federal government.”

Schatz also emphasized the need to provide flexible long-term recovery assistance in the form of block community development funding for disaster recovery that will allow survivors to rebuild their homes and communities as quickly as possible .

Disaster recovery funds — appropriated by Congress and appropriated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — are critical to rebuilding disaster-stricken areas, such as Lahaina, which was devastated by the 2023 Maui wildfires.

Flexible grants provide crucial seed money to jump-start the long-term recovery process.

The funds help cities, counties, Indian tribes and states recover from disasters declared by the president, with a special focus on low-income areas, depending on the availability of additional credits. Funding can support a wide range of recovery activities, allowing HUD to help communities like Lahaina that might otherwise struggle to rebuild due to limited resources.

Schatz, however, said “that’s not enough.

“It’s not enough to clean up the wreckage and say ‘the rest is up to you.’ The federal government’s responsibility to help survivors does not end when the streets are clear, to walk away halfway through the process, leaving exhausted survivors without direction, is not an acceptable or successful outcome.”

FEMA and the US Small Business Administration have approved more than $474.6 million in federal assistance for survivors of the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires.

The funding includes $61.7 million in FEMA assistance for 7,152 individuals and households, with $39.3 million earmarked for housing assistance — including $33.1 million for rental assistance — and $22.4 million for other assistance .

In addition, the SBA approved $412.9 million in loans to support affected Maui homeowners, renters and businesses.

FEMA Direct Housing Assistance currently includes both rental housing and modular housing, also known as portable alternative temporary housing units, located at the Kilohana Group Temporary Housing Site, as well as primary and secondary housing.

FEMA is actively building the Kilohana site, where 167 modular units will provide housing for survivors.

These temporary transportable alternative housing units are prefabricated, furnished units available in one, two or three bedroom configurations designed to meet county, state and federal requirements.

In support of the initiative, the US Army Corps of Engineers and its contractors are working on an emergency sewer project at the Kilohana site, located in Lahaina at Fleming Road and Malo Street.

As of Tuesday, 1,182 households are temporarily living in FEMA’s direct rental housing.

Beginning February 10, 2025, when the extended Financial Assistance and Temporary Direct Housing Assistance period begins, FEMA will implement a rental requirement. Rent will be based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fair market rent and adjusted based on each household’s ability to pay. FEMA also approved a streamlined process to simplify rent calculations.

For prime locations, homeowners enrolled in the Direct Housing Program may be eligible to place an alternative temporary transportable housing unit on their property, allowing them to live on-site while they rebuild. The property must meet specific lot size requirements and be located outside high-risk coastal floodplains.

For secondary sites, FEMA is looking to lease vacant lots from property owners who do not plan to rebuild in the next two to three years. The properties will house individuals and families displaced by the fires, with placement on FEMA-selected rental property. The property must meet lot size requirements, be outside the high-risk coastal flood zone and allow for two or more temporary units.