Maui local Archie Kalepa held back tears as he discussed what he believes to be the biggest threat in the aftermath of fires that have taken the lives of at least 93 people on Hawaii’s second-largest island and the small community of Lāhainā.

“We cannot have the people of Lāhainā quit, but what we don’t want to happen is big land grabbers come in and take the land from these people,” said the cultural advisor and Lāhainā resident in an Instagram video. “People are already talking about relocating, moving because they have nothing to come back to.”

Although the influx of tourists and Westerners has brought jobs to Hawaii’s islands, it hasn’t always been welcomed by native Hawaiians. Over decades, vast hotel and condo developments have sprung up close to the pristine beaches and lush hills, while private real estate is snapped up by affluent outsiders –  further displacing indigenous Hawaiians and other locally born residents. The more people who come from outside, the more expensive homes are for locals.

The high costs, among other issues, have led to a high homeless rate among native Hawaiians. As of 2020, around 51% of the homeless population in Hawaii are native Hawaiian.

Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, said the fires happened because of drought and strong winds produced by a hurricane several hundred miles offshore.

Now, even as locals scour the burned-out shells of the thousands of buildings that were lost, there are fears that realtors are already calling to acquire property and land on the cheap.

“If you are from Lāhainā & are receiving phone calls from realtors asking to purchase your property following the fire, please record their name, company & home address for us & post it,” tweeted Keoni DiFranco.

Gov. Green tried to calm fears that land would be lost, saying that he wanted the area to remain affordable for locals after it’s rebuilt and promised to turn the land into housing or an open space memorial to those who died. But he also said he wanted the state to get more involved. “I’m already thinking about ways for the state to acquire that land,” he said in the aftermath of the fires.

That would involve buying out hundreds of families who lost their homes. Not everyone wants that.

“We loved our home in Lahaina and we’re not leaving,” said resident Ariel Ah Hee, who has heard that realtors are already in contact with people who have lost their homes. “We have faith and we have hope that everyone will rebuild because we want to live next to our neighbors again and for this town to stay in the hands of the people of Maui.”

Ah Hee said that everyone she has spoken to so far has home insurance, which is one of the first questions being asked by locals in the area. However, she doesn’t believe that Lāhainā can be rebuilt as it was, and some lots may remain vacant.

“I’m worried that the rebuilding and permitting process will leave small pieces of our community available for developers,” she said, adding that her neighborhood is untouchable because it’s affordable housing. “But in other places, getting small pieces is exactly how they will slowly take land away from us.” 

Land grabs have a long history in Hawaii

Snatching up Hawaii’s paradise is nothing new to the indigenous people. It’s how the once independent nation was annexed by the United States in 1898 because, in part, wealthy American businessmen wanted to gain control of the lucrative sugar plantations. Hawaii was made a state in 1959. Since then, its beautiful scenery and temperate climate have attracted American tourists and people looking for permanent vacation homes.

While more recent followers of Hawaii’s real-estate holdings will be aware of people like Mark Zuckerberg owning around 1,400 acres and Oprah Winfrey sitting on 1,000 acres, some people almost own entire islands. Larry Ellison, the billionaire tech magnate, owns 98% of Lanai, about 140.5 square miles or just short of 90,000 acres.

The U.S. federal government, seen as an interloper by some locals, owns just over 830,000 acres of military stations and national parks.

Land is a precious commodity in Hawaii, especially as land and home prices are the highest in the country. A trust set up by Congress to return Hawaiians to their native lands has been plagued with problems, such as inadequate funding, management, and poor land quality. Some Hawaiians have waited decades to obtain the land, with 23,000 waiting on a list. Thousands have died while waiting to be reunited with the promised land.

Over the past decade, federal land promised to Hawaiians was sold to private investors instead.

And while they wait, tourists visit Hawaii in the millions, and their needs are often put above that of locals, who some say treat the state like their own personal theme park and ignore signs that preserve culture and the environment.

In the aftermath of the fire, as many as 4,000 tourists and residents were evacuated to O’ahu 116 miles to the west. Due to the high occupancy rate of accommodation on O’ahu, those people will stay at the convention center on the island, which some say is a drain on resources.

“To have what it takes to shuffle visitors instead of sending them home/using those relocation resources to help Maui recover is a snapshot of how disposable Hawai’i is: to the State, to tourism, to everyone who visits,” tweeted Terisa Siagatonu, a Samoan educator and climate activist based in the Bay area.

Paris Hilton, who was visiting the island with her family after the fires, received widespread condemnation for not leaving the island immediately and later tweeted, “That’s hot.”

Lāhainā is culturally important to the people of Hawaii, making it even more significant to preserve. In 1810, King Kamehameha unified the islands and made Lāhainā his royal residence for three decades. It has been a national historic landmark for over 60 years.

“Lahaina was one of the few locations in Hawaii that has been truly important throughout every era,” said Kimberly Flook, deputy executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which restores and maintains more than a dozen historic landmarks in the area.

While there are fears that the death toll could increase significantly as salvation operations continue, tourists returned to the beaches and the water to continue their vacations, adding tension to the tragedy unfolding on Maui. 

“The same waters that our people died just three days ago are the same waters that the very next day these visitors, tourists, were swimming in,” said a native Lāhainā resident to BBC. “And that says a lot about where their heart and mind is through all of this and where our heart and mind is now.”

She added: “There is two Hawaiis right now. There is the Hawaii we’re living in and the Hawaii they’re living in, visiting in.”

Can Hawaii be affordable?

While Hawaiians may not be able to legally stop tourists from visiting the state and people from buying up land, there is a need for housing solutions that are now vital given the fires.

“How do we rebuild this community?” said Kalepa. “We have to come up with a system, a governmental system that’s going to give [those who lost homes] the big breaks and help to encourage them or give them the hope that I can get back on their land.”

While strengthening property rights is one of the most popular ways to solve a housing crisis and prevent land grabs, Hawaii’s situation is more complicated because of strict planning laws. But there are solutions dotted around the country.

Portland had a dire housing crisis at the beginning of the last decade. Rents were growing at the fastest pace in the country and people could not find affordable places to live. The city to a fresh look at its zoning laws and found that it had lots of undeveloped land. It revamped its entire building process. Over a decade later, there are nearly 10,000 additional affordable homes in the city. Similar scenarios have unfolded in Los Angeles and San Diego.

But first Hawaii’s planning laws have to stop favoring the wealthy.

Grassroot Institute of Hawaii President and CEO Keliʻi Akina said during a late 2022 presentation that because permitting laws favored the wealthy, it has been easier for developers to build expensive homes than affordable ones.

“Developers who try to build affordable housing have to go through public hearings where the community comes together and says, most often, ‘Not in my backyard,’” he said. “Hawaii’s housing policies are set up to favor the fabulously wealthy … [because] it’s all left for developers to develop.”He suggested allowing affordable housing developers to be automatically approved for simple builds and reducing the number of public hearings, which he says is a significant bottleneck.

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