Lava Buyout Program Nears End, Final Puna Owners Paid by Summer

The final batch of Puna residents who opted to sell their properties affected by the 2018 Kīlauea eruption to Hawaiʻi County should be getting paid out by this summer. For those still waiting, the finish line is close: 657 properties have already been purchased, with only 43 remaining, and 39 of those are now in escrow or about to enter escrow.

Launched in 2021 by the Planning Department's Disaster Recovery Division, the Voluntary Housing Buyout Program sought to buy displaced Puna residents' lands at pre-eruption values. The buyout effort was built on roughly $107 million in HUD Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds. To be eligible, properties had to have been damaged, destroyed or isolated by the lava flow eight years ago, and maximum purchase prices varied depending on whether lots were primary residences, secondary residences and long-term rentals, or undeveloped land. Offers were based on 2017 pre-eruption appraised values, with maximum awards set at $230,000 for primary homes, $142,000 for secondary homes, and $22,000 for undeveloped lots.

The program received more than 800 applications, 700 of which were followed through on. It was structured in three phases. Phase one, reserved for owners of primary residences, drew 311 applicants, and as of February only three of those applications remained open. Phase two covered secondary homes, with about 200 applicants, while phase three brought in roughly 300 owners of vacant land. Of the 43 properties still outstanding, two are secondary residences or rentals and 41 are plots of undeveloped land. Four of the remaining properties are still in the vetting stage due to probate, lien or trust issues.

County Recovery spokeswoman Jen Myers acknowledged the program was already past one internal milestone: "the program should have completed most of its buyouts by the end of 2025, although this depends on the remaining properties moving through the process efficiently, and with applicants responding in a timely manner." Properties purchased through the program that still have standing structures will be demolished, and the land managed for compatible open-space uses, with demolition and post-acquisition stewardship paid from program funds.

Disaster Recovery Officer Douglas Nam Le told the Star-Advertiser that the program has given some residents an alternative to moving back into the inundation area. Local reporting has followed individual families who chose buyouts instead of returning to Leilani Estates or Kapoho, and those personal decisions helped speed up the county's acquisitions. Kapoho resident Smiley Burrows, photographed at the summit of Green Mountain with her bought-out Kapoho Farm Lots property visible behind her, was among those who made that choice. Leilani Estates resident Kris Burmeister, standing at a property line posted with "kapu" and "no trespassing" signs against the backdrop of Fissure 8, represents another face of the program's long reach across lower Puna's lava-scarred landscape.

The county's Recovery Office had previously adjusted the Voluntary Housing Buyout Program's maximum payout for secondary homeowners to $142,000, down from an earlier cap of $230,000, a move Le described in January 2024 as necessary to stretch remaining funds far enough to serve both phase two and phase three applicants. At that point, Le estimated the program had about $38 million left out of its initial $107 million budget after mostly wrapping up phase one buyouts.

With most escrows now open or imminent, what once looked like an indefinite process for hundreds of Puna families is down to weeks of paperwork, title clearances, and closing signatures.