LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON2) — At the start of the week, nearly 200 out of around 1,000 households on FEMA’s temporary housing program had not paid rent. Now, it’s down 100 — or one in 10.
For a year and a half after the deadly August 2023 Lahaina fire, thousands of people relied on FEMA for recovery resources, including federally funded rentals.
Those units were no longer free as of this spring, with the first payments due April 1.
“I know a lot of people are having a challenging time doing that, but we are in a new phase, and it’s disaster recovery, not disaster response, which means the federal government no longer is going to cover everybody’s rent,” said Senator Brian Schatz (D), Hawaii.
“About 91% of our FEMA direct housing population were renters prior to the fire. So we assume that they’re used to paying rent, and we need to bring back some of that normalcy, because the ultimate goal is to transition households to their permanent housing plans, as FEMA’s program is really only to provide temporary housing,” said Ali Slous, FEMA.
Out of nearly 1,000 households on the temporary rental program, just over 100 have not paid March rent, and even more were late as of just a few days ago.
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FEMA said they’ve done extensive outreach to those households to make sure they understand possible consequences, including having to move out.
“So it will take some time to reconcile, you know, with our finance department after May 1, who still has not paid their rent, and then that will essentially trigger what we call a revocation process.”
The process starts with a 15-day warning, a notice of revocation, and then a notice to surrender the property. And the unpaid bill doesn’t go away.
“It goes up to the Treasury level, and then the US Treasury will follow up. And there are different ways that the federal government can recoup those funds, including garnishing wages and or having it be taken out of Social Security.”
Philanthropic partners are still offering assistance to help people get back on their feet.
“That assistance is not necessarily for them to pay rent, but it may help offset other bills that are that are coming up for them right now, and we understand the financial stress of this recovery.”
So, how much monthly rent are we talking about?
The allowable range FEMA can charge is $1,750 for a studio to nearly $3,600 for a four-bedroom or more for bigger places.
Most of the 1,000 renters appealed for subsidies, and 836 of them were approved to pay as little as $50 a month. Landlords get paid by FEMA regardless of the renter’s remittances to the federal agency.
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Officials said property owners should not feel the impact of the delay in rent payment by the household that’s occupying their unit.
All of this is set to end after February 2026. FEMA told KHON2 they do not anticipate any risk to the federal funds between now and then.
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