Keeping Lahaina Lands in Lahaina Hands

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In the weeks following last year’s devastating wildfires, people across the world rallied to support survivors shellshocked by the tragedy. Donations of money, clothing, household goods, food and supplies came pouring in, complementing the work of the myriad emergency responders and aid workers from Hawaiʻi and the continent. It was an example of humanity at its best.

But even as thousands looked for ways to kōkua, a handful of others looked for ways to profit.

Mere days after the wildfires, reports surfaced about “disaster capitalists” – predatory real estate entities – offering to purchase land from traumatized wildfire survivors. In response, on August 15 the governor’s office issued a news release urging Maui homeowners to exercise caution and report unsolicited offers to buy their properties.

Then, on September 8, Gov. Josh Green’s Seventh Proclamation Relating to Wildfires expressly prohibited predatory real estate practices, making unsolicited offers to acquire property from wildfire survivors a misdemeanor subject to fines, imprisonment, or both.

Not content to rely solely on the government, a group of Lahaina-rooted advocates and organizers decided to act to protect their community and ensure that Lahaina’s lands remain forever in the hands of its people.

Born was the Lahaina Community Land Trust (LCLT), a nonprofit that is committed to protecting Lahaina homeowners. “The idea for the land trust was born in the days following the fire, as folks were really concerned about the potential for land grabs,” said LCLT’s new Chief Operating Officer and former Board Secretary Carolyn Auweloa, a kupa of Lahaina and one of the trust’s founders.

“My brothers were working as community responders and I was thinking, how can we preserve, protect, or provide help to [local] landowners? Especially our multi-generation local community families that managed to hold on to their land this whole time. What can we do to help them hold on [to their land] and not be vulnerable?”

Understanding that survivors were exhausted and stressed trying to rebuild their lives, Auweloa and her team stepped in to fill the gap, driven by their concern for Lahaina’s future. Their goal is to protect Lahaina lands by offering landowners who are considering selling their land a community-based alternative to traditional real estate transactions.

LCLT prioritizes community wellbeing over profit and promises that every piece of land entrusted to them will be responsibly cared for, managed and safeguarded, and that land protected by the trust will always be kept in “Lahaina hands and used for the highest and best interest of the Lahaina community as determined by the community.”

The idea of a land trust is not new.

Community land trusts (CLTs) are nonprofit organizations that acquire, own and steward land for the common good. They are used primarily, but not exclusively, to develop housing. And they give community members a voice in decision-making and determining how land will be used.

CLTs are governed by a board and staff comprised of community members. Essentially, CLTs purchase land and develop projects that serve its local community with community input – everything from agricultural projects, commercial spaces, and green spaces to affordable rental and cooperative housing projects.

Their core function is to create homes that remain permanently affordable. They do this by retaining the land in the trust and selling just the homes to community members with long-term renewable leases to the land under the homes.

LCLT is structured similarly, consisting of a three-member board of directors, a 15-member advisory board, and a logistics team. All LCLT members are from either from Lahaina or Maui Komohana (West Maui).

“We know this community and we know exactly what we need as a community,” said LCLT Board of Directors Treasurer Kapali Keahi. “We need to be part of the solution and in the arena leading the charge for change in our own community. And we need that change desperately.”

Currently, LCLT receives most of its funding through donations and grants, however Auweloa said they have several sustainable funding strategies in development.

This includes partnerships with other organizations, such as the Conservation Fund and the Trust for Public Land. They have also been awarded $15 million from Maui County. “Those monies are specifically for affordable housing, managed retreats, open space and an insurance gap program,” Auweloa said.

“We are in negotiations right now with our first three parcels, and we are talking to landowners who have expressed interest in selling to the Land Trust,” she added. “We secured partnerships with larger organizations that can provide some bridge funding that’s quicker than county funding.”

LCLT has also hosted free workshops for Lahaina landowners that bring resources to community members. They are working with organizations like Hawaiian Community Assets and Hawaiʻi Community Lending’s Lahaina Homeowner Recovery Program to provide mortgage assistance, counseling, and advocacy for Lahaina landowners who may be overwhelmed by the financial maze that needs to be navigated.

Currently, landowners can contact Hawaiʻi Community Lending and work with financial advisors and counselors who help them evaluate their individual situations and explore every possible option and alternative.

Another strategy being used is the development of “kamaʻāina easements” that encourage landowners to keep their properties owner-occupied by other Lahaina residents.

Creating relationships with the community – and giving them hope for their own futures and for the future of Lahaina – is what keeps LCLT going. “If we are able to secure these lands for our community and have access to them and the ability to determine what is best for this land, that’s exercising our ea (sovereignty),” said Keahi.

This includes both affordable housing and preserved open spaces in Lahaina for the local community.

Step by step, LCLT is fulfilling its mission. “We’ve had victories all along the way, with every new partnership,” Auweloa said. “Every time I see a kupuna wrap their head around this idea and understand what it really is, and I see their faces light up, and I see the hope fill their naʻau, that to me is the biggest win.

“Hawaiians are the heartbeat of Hawaiʻi,” added Auweloa. “If our people continue to be displaced because of the economic forces and drivers that are creating unrealistic living situations for folks out here, Hawaiʻi is going to change. Hawaiʻi is going to lose its value and the identity it has in its people. That is why we are doing this.”

At the end of the day, LCLT’s purpose is to keep the people of Lahaina in Lahaina.