A tattoo of the words “Lahaina Grown” is inked on Richy Palalay’s forearms, a mark he’s had since he was 16, emblematic of his love for his hometown of Maui.
In the past decade, with a persistent housing shortage, many residents like Palalay have been displaced as wealthy transplants and second-home buyers buy up the island.
Then, on August 8, wildfires swept through Lahaina in an instant, burning the entire area to the ground, with a The death toll now stands at 99 and only 25% of the burned area was searched.
The catastrophic event, combined with the previous struggles of Native Hawaiians and local residents, have left a big question mark over their future.
“I’m more concerned about big land developers coming in and seeing this charred land as an opportunity to rebuild.” Palalay told local Los Angeles station KTLA Saturday at a shelter for evacuees.
Hotels and apartments “that we can’t afford, that we can’t afford to live in, that’s what we’re afraid of,” he explained.
Palalay, 25, was born and raised in Lahaina and started working at the city’s oceanfront seafood restaurant at age 16, eventually working his way up to kitchen supervisor and most recently train to be a sous chef, he told the network.
His life stopped when what is now known as the deadliest forest fire the United States has seen in a century take place.
Maui County estimates that more than 80 percent of the city’s more than 2,700 structures were damaged or destroyed, and about 4,500 residents are now in need of shelter.
Palalay told KTLA that the restaurant where he worked, his neighborhood, his friends’ houses and possibly his four-bedroom house where he pays $1,000 a month in rent for one room were burned in the fire.
“Lahaina is my home. Lahaina is my pride. My life. My joy,” he said, adding that the city, which was once the capital of the ancient Hawaiian kingdom in the 1800s, gave him “lessons of love, struggle, discrimination, passion, division and unity that could not be understood”.
Home prices in the past two decades have skyrocketed on Maui, averaging $1.2 million today and putting the typical wage earner out of reach for a home. Even a condo has an average price of $850,000.
Sterling Higa, executive director of Housing Hawaii’s Future, a nonprofit that advocates for more housing in Hawaii, said the city is home to many properties that have been in the hands of local families for generations.
“So a lot of newer arrivals, usually from the North American continent who have more money and can buy homes at a higher price, displaced local Lahaina families to some extent,” Higa told KTLA.
There are options for residents with government assistance or insurance who may have access to funds to rebuild, but they may not see those payments for years, leaving many in the lurch over time.
“As they deal with this, the frustration of fighting insurance companies or fighting [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] Many of them may leave because there are no other options,” Higa said.
Palalay, however, agrees to stay.
“I don’t have the money to help rebuild. I’m going to put on a construction hat and help get this ship going. I’m not leaving this place,” he said. “Where will I go?”
During a FEMA visit to Lahaina, Gov. Josh Green told reporters he won’t let Lahaina become too expensive for locals after rebuilding.
“We want Lahaina to be a part of Hawaii forever,” Green said. “We don’t want it to be another example of people being priced out of paradise.”
Español de Venezuela 
English