New program provides financial help to Hawaiʻi families hosting storm-displaced residents

Hawaiian Council has launched a statewide program to provide financial assistance to Hawaiʻi households hosting friends, relatives, and neighbors displaced by recent storms, including Hurricanes Lala and Lowell.

The Host Housing Support Program will provide eligible host households with $500 per displaced person per month, up to $2,000 per household. Assistance will be available as funding allows, with a particular focus on needs on Hawaiʻi Island and Kauaʻi.

Applicants do not need to be Native Hawaiian.

“People across the pae ʻāina have opened their homes and their hearts to help family, friends, and neighbors who have been displaced,” Hawaiian Council CEO Kūhiō Lewis said. “We mahalo these families for the aloha they are showing and the kuleana they have embraced to care for others, even amid their own challenges after the storms.”

To qualify, hosts must be Hawaiʻi residents providing housing to individuals or families whose primary residence was in a confirmed disaster-impacted area and was destroyed or sustained significant structural damage requiring extensive repairs. The damaged residence may have been either rented or owned.

Displaced individuals or families must be living in the host household’s permanent housing and have access to a safe sleeping area, bathrooms, and a kitchen or cooking area. Tents and temporary shelters do not qualify.

Host housing must pass a Housing Quality Standard inspection. Applicants must provide the displaced household’s pre-disaster address and a brief explanation of how the financial assistance will be used. Host households must also participate in monthly eligibility assessments, and proof of housing and site visits may be required.

Applicants must provide identification for the host household and displaced adults, a completed W-9 for the head of the host household, and documentation of the displaced household’s pre-disaster address.

On Hawaiʻi Island, displaced individuals and families must register with Vibrant Hawaiʻi before their host submits an application. Hawaiian Council is working with the organization to verify household impacts.

Displaced households on Hawaiʻi Island can contact Vibrant Hawaiʻi at 802-365-1808 or contact@vibranthawaii.org.

On other islands, Hawaiian Council will work with government agencies, local organizations, and its staff to verify storm-related impacts.

Host households can review eligibility requirements and apply through the Hawaiian Council’s Kākoʻo Mai program website. Questions and requests for application assistance can be sent to kakoomai@hawaiiancouncil.org.

The program was informed in part by Hawaiian Council’s experience supporting families after the 2023 Maui wildfires, which the organization said provided insight into the needs of displaced families as well as households hosting them.

The program is funded by contributions to the Hawaiian Council’s Kākoʻo Mai Fund and a grant from TY Management for storm recovery.

“Our community’s generosity is what allows us to do this,” Lewis said. “We mahalo everyone who has donated to Kākoʻo Mai and extend a special mahalo to TY Management for its generous grant to help families recover from the storms.”