06/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/09/2024 21:41
WASHINGTON-The Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce held a hearing this week titled "Assessing the Federal Government's Response to the 2023 Maui Wildfires" to assess federal recovery efforts in Lahaina as the community responds to the devastating 2023 Maui wildfires that claimed 102 lives with two missing. At the hearing, federal agencies and local leaders discussed challenges and successes with response to the fires and long-term recovery.
Key Takeaways:
Building trust with the local community has been essential for a successful recovery in Maui.
Temporary housing projects have been a priority for federal agencies while responding to the fires, yet temporary housing poses unintended consequences for the community.
While federal agencies have successfully provided resources to aid in recovery, as Maui looks towards the future, there is still uncertainty regarding recovery resources.
Member Highlights:
Subcommitee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) asked about interagency coordination and assisting members of the community with understanding regulations and time frames during recovery.
Rep. Sessions: "These are four agencies that are represented here. That does not represent the entire United States government. There are certainly issues related to the IRS and other reporting, perhaps those who have student loans and other things that would need that output. Do you believe that they have been adequately addressed as you look across this entire process that you had help from other agencies and answered those questions?"
Mr. Sánchez (SBA): "Yes sir. I think one of the things that we learn from disaster to disaster is that if you're one of the most impacted disaster survivors, you probably won't file in the first thirty, sixty, or ninety days. You come in later and you're missing paperwork, you have questions. […] We have built a strong partnership for example with Internal Revenue Service so if that disaster survivor can't find tax records, we will go out and do that on behalf of the IRS."
Rep. Sessions: "It is, I think, important for people to understand what the rules of the game are. How long they have, how flexible you have become in that process. […] "Do you think you have adequately brought these rules, regulations, time frames, responses, answers to a broad group of people?"
Mr. Fenton (FEMA): "I think it's a continuing process. […] It's a continuing education, it's not a straight line. It's a Venn diagram. It takes continued effort. […] I think the mayor's advisory program is critical to bring senior leaders from the community in, how do we educate them so they carry the message."
Subcommittee Chairman Sessions also stressed the need for the government and residents of Lahaina to come together and address the difficult - but necessary - issues that will shape what the Lahaina of the future loos like.
Rep. Sessions: "It doesn't take a lot to have to sit here and listen and conjure up in your mind the undertaking that you're all involved in. We heard stories of roads that were too narrow, people that were trapped, exits that did not necessarily represent an emergency may have represented daily life. I know there is an undertaking here… it is going to require a big undertaking…"
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) discussed what SBA is doing to assist and locate survivors with unfinished disaster assistance applications.
Rep. Porter: "About how many applications have you received from those affected by this disaster?"
Mr. Sánchez (SBA): "Completed applications, roughly 6,000."
Rep. Porter: "Were there more that were started but not finished?"
Mr. Sánchez (SBA): "Yes, there were about 6,400 that were started."
Rep. Porter: "What have you done to locate those people who started an application but didn't finish it to try to understand why?"
Mr. Sánchez (SBA): "Sure. We have gone through our teams on the ground as we've researched the database who started an application but maybe didn't finish it. We have done multiple attempts, for example we reached out just earlier this year to about 309 of those. […] At the end of the day we were able to make positive contact with about 240 of those."
Rep. Tokuda (D-Hawaii) examined challenges with permanent and temporary housing structures.
Rep. Tokuda: "How do you get us to that permanent housing construction vs. the more temporary transitional housing that we're seeing right now?"
Mr. Fenton (FEMA): "…I think the limitations there are one, it has to be a homeowner. It has to be uninsured. So you're talking about a population that fits that that's probably beneath a hundred on this. Ninety percent of the people displaced are renters here. Next, there has to be no other solutions for temporary housing, and it has to be cost effective. There are a number of other solutions here."
Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) asked Mayor Bissen about Lahaina's long-term recovery goals.
Rep. Case: "From the very beginning, one of the big questions has been what our target at the end of the day is. What is the Lahaina that we envision and that we want to bring back to life. It may not be the same exact Lahaina as before. […] Where are you on that decision? I know it's a complex decision for the community and for the elected leaders."
Mayor Bissen: "The long-term recovery project is due to be out, the draft, in October. That's the result of many, many community meetings that we've held and also neighborhood meetings that our office of recovery staff has been pursuing. One of the mantras we've had is that this would be community-led and government supported."
READ MORE: Sessions Opens Field Hearing on Federal Response to Maui Wildfires
Click here to watch the full hearing.