Nearly 300 residents whose primary homes were damaged or destroyed during the 2018 Kilauea eruption in lower Puna have had their properties bought out by Hawaii County.
Since 2021, 820 people applied for the county’s Voluntary Housing Buyout Program, which allowed owners of properties damaged, isolated or destroyed during the eruption to sell those properties to the county for up to $230,000.
The program was conducted in phases, with the first phase targeted toward those whose primary residences were impacted by the eruption. For the first phase, the county received 311 applications for buyouts.
Those first phase applicants have now almost entirely been bought out, according to Jennifer Myers, spokeswoman for the county Planning Department’s Disaster Recovery Division.
Myers wrote via email that as of Tuesday, the county has closed deals with 275 of the first phase applicants.
Those buyouts cost $55 million out of the program’s $107.5 million budget, which was secured through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program.
Once the remaining 36 applicants are bought out, Myers wrote that the county can move on to begin working through the second-phase applicants, which include about 200 owners of secondary homes impacted by the eruption. Once those are closed, the final 300 applicants from phase three — owners of vacant land — will be addressed next year.
County officials have not yet determined how, if at all, the buyout parcels will be used in the future
Meanwhile, the county and the Hawaii Community Foundation announced Monday that the application period for additional rounds of a pair of eruption recovery grant programs has opened.
The Puna Strong program, aimed at promoting disaster readiness and community resilience in Puna, has been extended for another 18 months, allowing for a third round of funding for Puna nonprofits.
At the same time, the Kilauea Recovery Grant Program will issue a second round of funding, allowing nonprofits and community groups to apply for grants of up to $500,000 for capital improvement projects to repair damage caused by the eruption and support further resiliency projects.
“Empowering the community to lead the way in recovery initiatives and focus on projects they know will create meaningful impact is vital,” said Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz in a statement. “While the county is coordinating large-scale programs like infrastructure restoration and stewardship of housing buyout properties, this approach ensures that community partners receive funding and support they need to help Puna recovery and thrive.”
Nonprofits have until Oct. 16 to submit a letter of interest for the Puna Strong program and until Oct. 27 to submit an application for the Kilauea Recovery Grant Program.
More information about the two programs can be found at recovery.hawaiicounty.gov/resources/recovery-grants.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.