West Maui school staff awaiting rebuild of homes see hope in workforce housing project

When the Hawaiʻi Department of Education announced plans on Nov. 22 for a $20 million, 47-unit rental housing project for the West Maui educational workforce, it came as a relief to many, but local school officials say it is just a start to meet the great housing need of their employees.

There are 305 employees at the four public schools in West Maui, about a third of whom were displaced from their homes by the deadly wildfire that ravaged Lahaina, killing at least 102 and destroying 2,200 structures on Aug. 8, 2023.

The modular housing complex with one- and two-bedroom units will be built on land near Lahaina Intermediate School, Lahainaluna High School and Princess Nahi’ena’ena Elementary School. It is being funded by the state, with Capital Improvement Program funds that the Department of Education sought through the legislative process and the Major Disaster Fund. The first units are anticipated to be available by July 2025, with full completion expected in the spring of 2026.

Lahaina teachers who lost their homes in the fires and new staff members will have priority. The Department of Education has not yet decided what it will charge for rent, but it likely will be based on an employee’s income. 

Lahainaluna High School principal Richard Carosso said on Tuesday it was difficult before the Lahaina fire to find housing for employees, but afterward it was much worse.

“We know that it’s hard to commute and we know that traffic is getting worse,” he said. “Even rents (in) Central (Maui) have risen since the fire, so I don’t think it’s outlandish to say that this project kind of saved public education for the west side schools.”

Of the 107 staff members who were employed at Lahainaluna High on the day of the fire, more than 100 are still there, Carosso said.

He said the new rental housing project “really is going to guarantee the continuity, the continuation of public education for the four Lahaina schools.”

In the high school’s front office, four of the five staff members lost their homes in the fire, including administrative service assistant Sissy Rogers, who has worked at Lahainaluna for 20 years. She and her family have had to move seven times since the fire, and since April have been living in Mā’alaea.

Rogers says the new development is a “great big deal” for all the employees who work in education in West Maui, including three of her five children. They commute to their schools to work from various parts of the island.

“Out of the four places that we lived, only one home survived,” Rogers said. “This complex coming in … gives us hope that we are going to move back to Lahaina and we’re going to have some place to stay until our homes can get rebuilt because it’s probably going to take several years.” 

Science department head Arica Lynn, who teaches biology at Lahainaluna, also lost her townhome in Kahoma Village in the fire. While she said the new development is a sign of hope for her colleagues, it comes a little late for her family of five.

Lynn and husband Matthew Souza have three small children — 5-year-old Silas, 3-year-old Ayla and 9-month-old Asher. They currently live in a 600-square-foot unit in Ka La’i Ola, a temporary housing development near the Lahaina Civic Center that will house up to 1,500 wildfire survivors for up to 5 years.

Lynn and her family are making significant progress on rebuilding their home — with the pouring of concrete for the foundation scheduled for Jan. 4. She is hopeful the family will be back in their residence by Christmas 2025. 

Lynn was recruited as a teacher from Chicago in 2013 and married her husband six years ago. Her family is grateful for the opportunity they have to live at Ka La’i Ola rent free while they are still paying their mortgage and homeowners association fees for the family home that was destroyed in the fire.

“I’m excited to see that it’s finally here,” Lynn said of the new housing development. “It’s a great start for our beginning teachers.”

She recalled how difficult it was for her to find affordable housing with a teacher’s starting salary when she arrived from the mainland after being recruited.

RJ Arconado is a senior and the student body president at Lahainaluna and he said it is important for the teachers to stay at the school for the sake of the students. More than 80% of the school’s staff are Lahainaluna graduates, according to Carosso.

Arcanado and Lahainaluna senior class treasurer Janice Yabo were part of a student roundtable with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Dec. 6, when he stopped on Maui to tour the temporary King Kamehameha III Elementary School below the Kapalua Airport and Lahainaluna. 

“I think that them wanting to have our voices out there says so much about how much they care about us,” Arcanado said.

Yabo said her thoughts also are with her teachers.

“It’s not just us students who went through a lot, but also the teachers, too,” said Yabo, who lives in Napili and did not lose her home in the fire. “They’re probably talking to other people too, but since they’re adults they have to focus on their work. So, I feel like the teachers are going through the same thing that we’re doing, but we all have different stories, different things that we’re going through.” 

Hawai’i Department of Education Superintendent Keith Hayashi said the housing project is essential for the West Maui schools.

“As I’ve heard very passionately from the principals here in our Lahaina schools, the importance of housing is huge,” Hayashi said. “Our employees were displaced from the disaster and impacts are still being felt. I’ve talked to some teachers, and they shared that they lived minutes away before the fire, but now they’re living an hour-plus away.”

He said by supporting housing, it will help with teacher and staff retention that benefits everyone.

“Most importantly, it’s for our students because they connect well with the teachers who are working with them,” Hayashi said. “They build trust and a sense of the relationship. We want to do our best to keep our Lahainaluna complex teachers here in Lahaina.”

Cardona’s Maui visit marked the 49th state he has visited during his four years as secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. He was engaged with students at recess at King Kamehameha III, with several of them asking for his autograph. His sit-down with the Lunas’ student government members also put a smile on his face.

“I learned a lot about the culture, about the resilience, about the strength of this community,” Cardona said. “I learned how at the federal level we need to continue to not only support, but listen to the needs of our students in our community here. And I have to say, I’m leaving inspired, I’m leaving with a sense of hope, knowing that this community can teach the rest of the country lessons about how to come together, but they continue to need our support and make sure that we’re in it for the long haul.”

He said educational workforce housing is essential to the continued bounce back for Lahaina town.

“Now if I’m a teacher and I have to drive a long distance to come to school to teach here, it may make it difficult for me to do that, I might have to choose another profession,” Cardona said. “But when there’s a district that’s building housing for teachers to make it more likely that the teachers come, that’s going to increase teachers into the profession.”