Lahaina Community Land Trust says it will buy land back, prioritize long‑term residents and cultural practitioners

Autumn Ness, executive director of the Lahaina Community Land Trust, told the Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition in Missoula that her group is buying parcels in burned Lahaina to keep land and homes under community control and out of investor markets. “We are going to buy it back,” Ness said, describing acquisitions that have already secured multiple parcels and programs to prevent distress sales.

Ness said the CLT has used a mix of traditional CLT purchases and a program she described as an "insurance gap" option that allows families to keep title while recording a deed restriction with CLT‑style resale controls. Those deed restrictions, she said, are framed for residents as a "values document" rather than a punitive limit. The CLT reported 11 parcels secured and said its insurance‑gap work has so far prevented eight sales that would likely have transferred land to investors; Ness said…