Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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Today marks three years since the August 8, 2023 fire took 102 lives and most of Lahaina town. I one wheeled down Front Street live to give you a first hand look at the non re-building of the island economic engine in the hands of the inept and corrupt local and state government “leaders”
THE STREET ITSELF
Front Street reopened to vehicles on August 1, 2026, just seven days before this anniversary. Papalaua to Shaw is open with no restricted hours. Market Street, Papelekane and Mokuhinia Place stay closed while the state dredges Lahaina Harbor (Maui County Office of Recovery). The county also finished the Front Street Railing and Walkway Project in July: about 1,450 feet of repaired sidewalk, 700 feet of new railing, plus benches, light poles and milo trees.
Commercial recovery is the unforgivable slow part. Only five commercial building permits have been issued on Front Street, at 612, 632, 714, 724 and 744, with one barely under construction and a dozen more in pre-application (county planning, July 2026). Why so slow? Stupidity on the part of local and state government and the even more dumb left wing liberal activists. Historic district rules, possible archaeological surveys, and the non existent sufficient insurance payouts that don't even come close to cover actual rebuild costs (Hawaii Public Radio, Aug 7).
The first real commercial comeback is Ulu o Lele Marketplace, an $8 million dollar project at the old Outlets of Maui site with room for 25 to 50 vendors, opening as soon as September.
HOMES
Roughly 600 homes are rebuilt and occupied, about 400 are under construction, and more than 1,200 units are in permitting (county data, Aug 7, 2026). For perspective, on the second anniversary only about 45 homes were done. Of the 2,746 housing units lost, the county says 81.9 percent are now “on a path” toward rebuilding. An uphill demoralizing, incredibly expensive path handled by non emphatic government workers with bad attitudes. Debris removal is over 99 percent complete. Even though they unnecessarily moved it twice. Think about that $$$
PEOPLE
702 households were still on FEMA temporary housing assistance as of late July (Star-Advertiser), and FEMA aid runs through February 28, 2027. Census estimates show Maui County lost about 3,400 residents from 2023 to 2025, a 2.1 percent drop and five times the pre-fire pace. County survey data says 45 percent of fire-impacted residents are considering leaving. That's the number that should keep all of us up at night.
THE SETTLEMENT
The 4.03 billion dollar settlement finally moved this year. Allstate, the last holdout insurer, withdrew in April 2026, and the first award notices went out June 17 to nearly 22,000 claimants. The rough math is about 190,000 dollars per victim before deductions, paid in four annual installments through 2029. UHERO estimates about 550 million dollars reaches households this year and a cumulative 2.8 billion after roughly 1 billion in attorney fees and 200 million in insurance liens. That cash is projected to lift Maui personal income 5.4 percent in 2026, the biggest jump of any county in the state.
TOURISM AND THE ECONOMY
First half of 2026: 1,284,580 visitors to Maui, up 1.3 percent, with 3.34 billion dollars in spending, up 12.3 percent (DBEDT). West Maui hotels hit 76.3 percent occupancy in February versus 69.2 a year earlier. But the average daily visitor count is still well below 2022 levels, so we're flat, not fully back. Unemployment is projected around 2.6 percent, a world away from the 11 percent spike after the fire.
REAL ESTATE
This is my world, and it's a genuine correction. West Maui condos in the first half of 2026: sales up 22 percent, median price down from 775,000 to 699,000 dollars, days on market up from 135 to 171 (RAM MLS). Island-wide in March, single family sales jumped 57 percent while the median fell 7.3 percent to 1.2 million, and condo medians dropped 17.7 percent to 675,000. More deals, softer prices.
And the biggest fight on the island: Bill 9, passed December 15, 2025, phases out about 7,000 Minatoya List vacation rentals, West Maui by January 1, 2029 and the rest of the county by 2031. Two lawsuits are pending, the Planning Commission rejected a rezoning fix in February, and a partial exemption path opened in July under Bill 88. If you own one of these condos pray that Bissen and all the other idiotic cronies don’t get re-elected.
Behind all of it sits 1.6 billion dollars in federal CDBG-DR recovery funding, including the rebuild of all 607 affordable units lost in the fire.
Three years in, Lahaina is a mix of new rooftops, empty lots and scaffolding. The town is coming back. The question is how long will it take and why?
If you have questions about West Maui property, the burn zone, Bill 9, or what any of this means for you as an owner or buyer, reach out anytime.
Eric West, Team West Maui at Real Broker LLC, RB-20968
TeamWestMaui.com
Please share the video and http://www.HelpDaniel.ORG
Today marks three years since the August 8, 2023 fire took 102 lives and most of Lahaina town. I one wheeled down Front Street live to give you a first hand look at the non re-building of the island economic engine in the hands of the inept and corrupt local and state government “leaders”
THE STREET ITSELF
Front Street reopened to vehicles on August 1, 2026, just seven days before this anniversary. Papalaua to Shaw is open with no restricted hours. Market Street, Papelekane and Mokuhinia Place stay closed while the state dredges Lahaina Harbor (Maui County Office of Recovery). The county also finished the Front Street Railing and Walkway Project in July: about 1,450 feet of repaired sidewalk, 700 feet of new railing, plus benches, light poles and milo trees.
Commercial recovery is the unforgivable slow part. Only five commercial building permits have been issued on Front Street, at 612, 632, 714, 724 and 744, with one barely under construction and a dozen more in pre-application (county planning, July 2026). Why so slow? Stupidity on the part of local and state government and the even more dumb left wing liberal activists. Historic district rules, possible archaeological surveys, and the non existent sufficient insurance payouts that don't even come close to cover actual rebuild costs (Hawaii Public Radio, Aug 7).
The first real commercial comeback is Ulu o Lele Marketplace, an $8 million dollar project at the old Outlets of Maui site with room for 25 to 50 vendors, opening as soon as September.
HOMES
Roughly 600 homes are rebuilt and occupied, about 400 are under construction, and more than 1,200 units are in permitting (county data, Aug 7, 2026). For perspective, on the second anniversary only about 45 homes were done. Of the 2,746 housing units lost, the county says 81.9 percent are now “on a path” toward rebuilding. An uphill demoralizing, incredibly expensive path handled by non emphatic government workers with bad attitudes. Debris removal is over 99 percent complete. Even though they unnecessarily moved it twice. Think about that $$$
PEOPLE
702 households were still on FEMA temporary housing assistance as of late July (Star-Advertiser), and FEMA aid runs through February 28, 2027. Census estimates show Maui County lost about 3,400 residents from 2023 to 2025, a 2.1 percent drop and five times the pre-fire pace. County survey data says 45 percent of fire-impacted residents are considering leaving. That's the number that should keep all of us up at night.
THE SETTLEMENT
The 4.03 billion dollar settlement finally moved this year. Allstate, the last holdout insurer, withdrew in April 2026, and the first award notices went out June 17 to nearly 22,000 claimants. The rough math is about 190,000 dollars per victim before deductions, paid in four annual installments through 2029. UHERO estimates about 550 million dollars reaches households this year and a cumulative 2.8 billion after roughly 1 billion in attorney fees and 200 million in insurance liens. That cash is projected to lift Maui personal income 5.4 percent in 2026, the biggest jump of any county in the state.
TOURISM AND THE ECONOMY
First half of 2026: 1,284,580 visitors to Maui, up 1.3 percent, with 3.34 billion dollars in spending, up 12.3 percent (DBEDT). West Maui hotels hit 76.3 percent occupancy in February versus 69.2 a year earlier. But the average daily visitor count is still well below 2022 levels, so we're flat, not fully back. Unemployment is projected around 2.6 percent, a world away from the 11 percent spike after the fire.
REAL ESTATE
This is my world, and it's a genuine correction. West Maui condos in the first half of 2026: sales up 22 percent, median price down from 775,000 to 699,000 dollars, days on market up from 135 to 171 (RAM MLS). Island-wide in March, single family sales jumped 57 percent while the median fell 7.3 percent to 1.2 million, and condo medians dropped 17.7 percent to 675,000. More deals, softer prices.
And the biggest fight on the island: Bill 9, passed December 15, 2025, phases out about 7,000 Minatoya List vacation rentals, West Maui by January 1, 2029 and the rest of the county by 2031. Two lawsuits are pending, the Planning Commission rejected a rezoning fix in February, and a partial exemption path opened in July under Bill 88. If you own one of these condos pray that Bissen and all the other idiotic cronies don’t get re-elected.
Behind all of it sits 1.6 billion dollars in federal CDBG-DR recovery funding, including the rebuild of all 607 affordable units lost in the fire.
Three years in, Lahaina is a mix of new rooftops, empty lots and scaffolding. The town is coming back. The question is how long will it take and why?
If you have questions about West Maui property, the burn zone, Bill 9, or what any of this means for you as an owner or buyer, reach out anytime.
Eric West, Team West Maui at Real Broker LLC, RB-20968
TeamWestMaui.com
