{"id":219543,"date":"2025-08-05T08:00:39","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T18:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=219543"},"modified":"2025-08-05T08:01:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T18:01:46","slug":"2-years-after-maui-wildfire-disaster-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/05\/2-years-after-maui-wildfire-disaster-report\/","title":{"rendered":"2 years after disaster, Maui recovery inches forward, struggles continue"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"lahaina,<\/p>\n

While more Maui fire-affected residents are transitioning into permanent housing and reporting greater economic stability, many remain displaced, face high rent burdens, or continue to deal with long-term income loss. That\u2019s according to a new report released August 5, by the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Economic Research Organization<\/a> (UHERO<\/abbr>), offering the most comprehensive look to date at how individuals and households impacted by the August 2023 Maui wildfires are faring two years into recovery.<\/p>\n

The report, “Progress and Vulnerability Two Years After the Wildfires: A Data-Driven Update from the Maui Recovery Survey<\/a>,” draws on nearly a year of monthly survey data from more than 950 fire-affected people, and highlights both hopeful developments and enduring struggles.<\/p>\n

“Our findings show two realities unfolding side by side,” said UHERO<\/abbr> Research Economist Daniela Bond-Smith. “Some households are finding new footing—moving into stable housing, returning to work and regaining stability. But others are still living with deep uncertainty, especially those with limited support and population groups who had already been marginalized prior to the fires.”<\/p>\n

The survey—launched in August 2024 and still ongoing—includes people who lived, worked or owned a business in West Maui or Kula at the time of the fires. Its monthly format offers rare, near real-time insights into how recovery is progressing at the household level. Among its key findings:<\/p>\n