After their home was destroyed in the 2023 Maui wildfires, Rick Kimball and his wife left the island to stay with their adult children in the continental United States. Both in their 80s, rebuilding wasn’t an option at their age, so they faced a tough decision: What should they do with their former property in Lahaina?
Rick learned about grantee Lahaina Community Land Trust (LCLT), a nonprofit formed in the aftermath of the wildfires that is working toward community-focused housing solutions to keep Lahaina families rooted in place. He and his wife decided to sell their property to LCLT, making it the first piece of land secured for the newly formed community land trust.
“We didn’t want it to be snatched up by a speculator,” Rick said. “We wanted it to be doing something good for the local people.”
Stories like the Kimballs’ illustrate not only the tough choices residents must make after a disaster like the wildfires but also the emergence of alternative paths to building housing that preserves affordability and prevents the displacement of generational families. LCLT is one of several land trusts in Hawaiʻi advancing such innovative community-led housing initiatives, which the Foundation is committed to supporting so that individuals and families can remain in the places they’ve long called home.
The growing role of community land trusts in Hawaiʻi
For years, Hawaiʻi has faced a housing crisis marked by sky-high costs, limited inventory, outside speculative investments, and the displacement of local families. The 2023 Maui wildfires worsened the crisis by destroying more than 2,000 homes in Lahaina and putting greater pressure on an already strained housing market.
Community land trusts have been gaining traction in Hawaiʻi as a way to begin easing this pressure. Rather than focusing on financial return for a single homeowner in the traditional real estate market, these land trusts prioritize long-term housing stability that keeps families in their home communities for generations. This is because the community itself owns the land and leases it to residents affordably through an entity like a nonprofit or trust. In a market like Hawaiʻi, where prices continually rise, land trusts offer a safeguard against speculation that has historically displaced families.
“Instead of being priced out for market reasons beyond their control, community members should be able to steward the land under their feet to determine their own futures,” said Xan Avendaño, who leads the Foundation’s grantmaking focused on housing in Hawaiʻi. “Local groups are already modeling what this can look like. The public and philanthropic sectors can provide resources to help support their vision for generational stability.”
Keeping Lahaina lands in Lahaina hands
Led by residents, the Lahaina Community Land Trust has three main strategies to keep local families in Lahaina:
- Covering insurance gaps: For many families that lost their homes, the cost to rebuild can be about 40% more than what their insurance policy covers. LCLT helps homeowners bridge the gap, which is about $400,000 on average. In exchange for grants to cover that difference, families commit to ensuring their home will only ever be resold to kamaʻāina (local residents) at an affordable price.
- Fighting foreclosures: The foreclosure moratorium in West Maui, which protected homeowners from losing their homes after the wildfires, expired in January 2025. Many who own property in the burn zone now feel they have no choice but to sell when faced with massive mortgage payments for homes that no longer exist, on top of the steep payments they must make for temporary rental housing. LCLT strives to prevent foreclosures by connecting local property owners with resources early on.
- Buying land for sale in Lahaina: For families that make the difficult decision to sell their properties, LCLT aims to buy that land to keep it locally owned. The land trust has acquired nine properties to date, with another three under contract. LCLT plans to build or improve homes on these lots and then sell the houses to community members at a subsidized rate. The land itself is held permanently within the trust to ensure the houses stay affordable to kamaʻāina families in perpetuity.
“We look forward to learning alongside our partners and fellow funders about effective ways to support land trusts and other community-led efforts in Hawaiʻi and beyond,” Avendaño said.
