East Hawaii real estate offices are reporting a rush of lower Puna residents looking to rent homes closer to Hilo in anticipation of the approaching lava flow.
East Hawaii real estate offices are reporting a rush of lower Puna residents looking to rent homes closer to Hilo in anticipation of the approaching lava flow.
“We’re getting phone calls every three minutes,” said Nancy Cabral, owner of Coldwell Banker Day-Lum Properties, which operates about 600 rental properties on the Big Island.
It appeared, she said, that residents in the area are beginning to take to heart pleas from Hawaii County officials asking them to begin planning for evacuation now.
At a Thursday evening meeting in Pahoa, Mayor Billy Kenoi spelled it out: “What I humbly ask everybody is think, you guys, and start now. Start now. We cannot have everybody clogging Railroad (Avenue), two-lane, gravel, packed with cars, trying to get out on the last day.”
Kenoi asked that attendees make plans to find storage for family heirlooms and “the valuables you have in your house, in your family — lock them up already,” he said. “Put that away, start packing, start calling, start thinking.”
The question is, once word of evacuation comes, where will everyone go?
Cabral explained that the rental market is usually tight on the island, and with the August start to classes at University of Hawaii at Hilo, the market is even tighter. Meanwhile, about a dozen of her company’s furnished apartments are currently rented to temporary workers who moved here to help clean up after Tropical Storm Iselle.
“As of three weeks ago, we were basically full,” she said.
Those Iselle workers appear ready to move out next week, she said, freeing up some space, as well as a few units occupied by families that had to move out of their homes as they underwent repair following the storm. However, apart from those openings, there’s very little to offer families looking to move closer to East Hawaii’s economic center.
Realtor Jan Mahuna of Jan Mahuna Inc. said that her office had also been getting an unusual number of calls this week.
“We’ve had a lot of people from Leilani Estates wanting to move into town and applying for rentals,” she said. “And there isn’t much available. Right now, truthfully, we have three. One is going to be taken. We just showed it today, and I think that’s going to go. So, as far as available homes, only two.”
Mahuna said that one man arranged to rent a home near Hilo, but didn’t intend to move into it until the last possible moment.
“He told us he wanted to go ahead and rent the home, and it would probably stay vacant, but in case the lava came, he’d have something secured already,” she said. “People are thinking ahead. I guess they are beginning to panic because it’s getting closer and I think they do realize there isn’t much out there in the affordable range.”
In addition to living spaces, people are looking for places to store cherished items and furniture as they work to find alternatives.
Ray Miyazono, general manager at Big Isle Moving &Storage, told attendees at a meeting Wednesday in Pahoa that his company, located in Hilo, would offer a 50 percent discount to families affected by the lava flow. The company’s larger, 20-foot containers are already full, but he still has plenty of 4-foot-by-7-foot containers, known as lift vans, he can offer to people for $25 a month.
“I’m from Pahoa, and I still live in Pahoa,” he gave as an answer for why he wanted to help.
Meanwhile, a free website that was initially set up to help Puna residents find temporary homes for their animals has now changed its focus to helping people form carpools and living arrangements with other people on the Big Island.
Sydney Singer, director of the Good Shepherd Foundation, also operates HelpPuna.org, a website that allows Big Isle residents to offer each other help.
“We have two goals,” he said. “We want to help people find housing. People can post and say, ‘I need a house,’ or ‘I’m willing to share with someone.’ And another thing is, people need to start carpooling to reduce the burden on whatever roads we will have.”
With the possibility that Highway 130 will be inundated by lava, alternative routes out of Puna toward Hilo will likely be overcome by traffic, Singer said.
In addition to carpooling, residents who own boats may want to set up a makeshift ferry system for neighbors looking to get into Hilo to do work or shopping for supplies, he said. The website will allow people with specific needs to connect with people who have resources, he said.
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.