The File
Who owned the ground before the disaster, and who owns it after. This file documents the acquisition pressure after Lahaina, the infrastructure failure record at Palisades, and the post-Katrina precedent, as transactions.
The Documented Record
Within weeks of the August 2023 Lahaina fire, residents received unsolicited cash purchase offers from off-island investors; Hawaii's governor signed an emergency proclamation making unsolicited offers on affected property a crime, and the attorney general opened investigations. [DOCUMENTED]
Grist's 2025 Disaster Economy reporting documented a local analysis predicting more than 20 percent of Lahaina properties would have new owners within three years of the fire, with 78 of 257 surveyed fire-affected homeowners at foreclosure risk by August 2025. [DOCUMENTED]
LADWP's own project record confirms the Santa Ynez Reservoir was drained in early 2024 and empty during the January 2025 Palisades fire, returning to service June 25, 2025. [DOCUMENTED]
HUD Inspector General and Louisiana records document post-Katrina Road Home program buyouts and subsequent land disposition. [DOCUMENTED]
What the Record Does Not Establish
Ownership changes are stated as transactions. The record establishes acquisition pressure, distress-driven sales risk, and an infrastructure failure timeline; it does not establish intent behind any acquisition or any causal link between the reservoir's status and subsequent land outcomes. The governance gap is the documented fact. The rest is inference and is labeled as such.
Sources
- Maui residents disturbed by outside realtors offering quick cash, CBS News, 2023
- Two years after a wildfire, Maui homeowners face foreclosure, Grist, 2025
- Santa Ynez Reservoir cover replacement project status, LADWP News
- Audit reports, HUD Office of Inspector General
Connected Files
ECON-004 documents the infrastructure capture pattern beside this one. NAR-007 documents the emergency-powers architecture disasters activate.