Affordable LBC demonstration home for Lahaina fire survivors

Fund an affordable three-bedroom, two-bath demonstration home in Lahaina that helps fire survivors regain housing stability while protecting Maui's water, climate, and coastal ecosystems. Regen Maui, Lahaina Community Land Trust (LCLT), and Rothschild Doyno Collaborative are working toward Hawaiʻi's first affordable home to achieve full Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification. Recommended category: Climate Resilience and Hazard Mitigation.

The design targets families coping with grief, displacement, and rebuilding costs: natural daylight, cross-ventilation, shaded lanais, and garden connections for rest and family reconnection; solar power and battery storage combined with passive cooling and water conservation to reduce utility demand and ongoing bills. Materials would be sustainably sourced and screened to avoid harmful chemicals, including those on the LBC Red List, with Forest Stewardship Council–certified wood, an all-electric design, and indoor air-quality testing for healthier interiors; material selection and panelized construction would target lower construction waste and carbon impacts.

A yard designed to capture, clean, and retain water would connect household well-being with watershed health: planted treatment and filtration systems to support approved wastewater reuse, and rainwater capture and landscaping that filters and infiltrates runoff to support aquifer recharge and reduce pollution reaching coastal waters.

The prototype would serve as a working classroom for local builders: proposed workshops and construction demonstrations on passive design, healthy material selection, panelized construction, and integrated water systems, with shared costs, specifications, permitting lessons, and measured energy, water, and indoor-air results so builders and land trusts can adapt these approaches for more families.

More than $200,000 in County of Maui and USDA Forest Service grants supported community engagement and completion of a modular, five-bedroom flagship design informed by community input, with components reconfigurable into smaller homes. LCLT has paused construction of the flagship to prioritize the most requested configuration: a three-bedroom, two-bath home, now nearing submission for permitting.

The project is registered with the International Living Future Institute and was selected for its affordable housing cohort. LCLT has committed additional subsidy if needed for an eligible buyer at 80 percent of area median income. Occupancy is anticipated by January 2028, followed by performance verification for certification.

LCLT has committed to fund half the home's construction cost, with its share provisionally estimated at $350,000; approximately $350,000 in Green Fee matching funds is sought for the other half. The home has not yet gone out to bid; final amounts and eligible FY28/FY29 scope would be refined after pricing.