Homelessness Nearly Doubled In Hawaii After Maui Fires, New Federal Report Says
The state experienced an 87% increase from 2023 to 2024, compared to an 18% increase nationally.
Homelessness in Ჹɲʻ nearly doubled from 2023 to 2024, in great part due to the Maui wildfires, according to a new federal report.
The number of people who were homeless in Ჹɲʻ in 2024 grew from 6,223 to 11,637 – an 87% jump – according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s.
In a statement issued Friday, John Mizuno, Hawaii’s coordinator of homelessness and housing solutions, said more than 5,200 people were displaced by the August 2023 fires.
Statewide, the number of Ჹɲʻ residents who were homeless and unsheltered grew by 4%, from 3,907 in 2023 to 4,042 in 2024. The federal government defines being unsheltered as spending the night in places not designed for sleeping, such as cars, parks and abandoned buildings.
That increase was due to a “lack of affordable housing, the inability to pay rent, and other financial constraints for households,” the federal report said.
The number of Ჹɲʻ residents who were homeless but sheltered, or staying in emergency shelters, transitional housing and other facilities designed for sleeping, was 7,595 in 2024. That was up from 2,316 in 2023.
The annual HUD report is based on Point in Time counts, a federally mandated effort to count people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January around the country.
Nationwide, the number of people who were homeless in 2024 rose to 771,480 from 653,104 in 2023, an 18% jump, the report said.
Mizuno said in his statement that Ჹɲʻ has responded to the emergency by building 17 kauhale – communities of tiny homes and supportive services for people who are homeless – and “we will be building many more in 2025.”
