Consultants, officials and residents press county to turn Echo Northwest recommendations into housing action

Echo Northwest project director Cadence Petros told a Maui County Council subcommittee on May 12 that the firm revised a planned consensus-based strategic plan into a community-informed recommendations report after the Aug. 9, 2023, fires and changes in scope and timeline.

The change matters because the report’s central finding — that shortages in affordable housing are the root cause of homelessness — frames the county’s choices about prevention, shelter and long-term housing production. Petros told the committee that the report links housing supply to who becomes unhoused and that other system failures and inequities determine which people are most at risk.

Petros summarized the project timeline and rationale for the approach: Echo Northwest submitted a proposal in October 2022, the contract was executed in June 2023 on a roughly six-month schedule, and the firm began engagement planning. “As we were on the plane the morning of August 9, we learned that the island was on fire,” Petros said. The firm paused, then resumed working with county staff in late 2023; scope and budget constraints led the team and county staff to pivot from a consensus strategic plan to a community-informed recommendations report, Petros said.

The report, Petros said, used extensive engagement across Maui, Molokai and Lanai, including focus groups with people with lived experience, service providers and county staff, and two follow-up engagement rounds in June and October 2024. She described the report’s central metaphor: “The box in the report is called ‘housing and musical chairs,’” and explained that the “removal of the chair…is the housing supply,” a factor that statistically determines how many people become homeless in a given place.

Petros highlighted groups at elevated risk in Maui County: low‑wage workers and people with mobility or other barriers, and, based on point-in-time counts and HMIS touchpoints, a disproportionate share of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander residents among people experiencing homelessness. She also told the committee the report identified “silos between agencies” that reduce effectiveness and recommended ongoing, facilitated communication and relationship-building among service providers, county staff and state partners.

Petros said the report’s practical recommendations span three system functions: crisis intervention, stabilization and prevention. Examples she cited include building more 0–30% area median income housing—especially smaller units and permanently supportive housing—faster permitting and infrastructure connections, tenant and landlord education, source-of-income protections, medical respite, and better reentry supports for people leaving incarceration or foster care.

County Department of Human Concerns director Lori Suhako told the committee the county appreciates the report and noted limitations on local authority for some items. Suhako summarized guidance she received from the state’s homeless programs office on homeless verification letters and the limits of county jurisdiction: “Maui County does not have any jurisdiction over the homeless verification process since it is tied to contracts for outreach and shelter that are both administered by the state Homeless Programs Office,” she said, and added that the county does not directly fund shelter beds.

Cynthia Lalo, chief of staff in the mayor’s office, said the administration will consider the report in light of post-fire recovery and ongoing housing and land-management work. “There’s some things in relationship to the report that we need to consider,” Lalo said, specifically calling out timing and the community’s changed needs after the fires.

Committee members and dozens of public testifiers pressed for faster, concrete action. Testifier Shantel Lindo said she had hoped the engagement would produce an implementation plan rather than a study: “I really was hoping for implementation,” she said, and urged future contracting and RFPs to better match the county’s indigenous community needs. Community advocate Moe Kawaʻakoa urged coordination among nonprofits, state and county agencies: “We gotta start working together,” he said.

West Maui resident Kaina Nishiki told the committee she believes county water policy could have been used earlier to accelerate permanent housing production in West Maui after the fires. “The county could have... said... reduce your water usage so that we can build long term housing,” she said, and urged a greater sense of urgency for housing delivery.

Council members asked staff for concrete follow-ups. Suhako said the department has scheduled trauma-informed, harm-reduction training with an outside expert for staff and community partners and that the department issued an RFP for a safe-parking project that she expected to close May 16. Suhako also said county leaders are meeting with the Maui United Way about proposed grant funding; council members discussed a proposed $12 million United Way request in committee testimony.

Members asked the administration for a short, trackable implementation plan. Director Suhako agreed to prepare follow-up materials and training invitations; one council member requested a spreadsheet or one‑page tracker that lists Echo Northwest recommendations with proposed near-term and long-term actions and progress notes so the council can monitor implementation.

The subcommittee did not take formal votes on policy changes at the May 12 meeting. Committee members and staff agreed to follow up with state Homeless Programs Office staff about which contracted providers are authorized to issue homeless verification letters and to circulate the related RFP and contract documents for the Echo Northwest engagement to the committee record.

The meeting included sustained public testimony from service providers and residents who said restrictive funding rules and fragmented contracts limit providers’ ability to coordinate and verify homelessness for shelter entry. Several testifiers urged removing funding restrictions that prevent outreach groups from providing verification, and called for more flexible, locally tailored procurement and implementation strategies.

What’s next: County staff said they will (1) circulate the Echo Northwest report and related procurement documents to the committee record, (2) issue the safe-parking procurement and evaluate proposals, (3) hold trainings and facilitated conversations with providers and county staff, and (4) prepare a progress tracker of recommended actions for future committee updates. The subcommittee recessed after scheduling additional follow-up and public comment avenues.