Pop-up homes to create new village for displaced Maui wildfire victims

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- A nonprofit is helping victims of the devastating wildfires in Maui by providing pop-up housing.

Family Life Center is providing modular steel homes to victims of the fire. The pop-up steel homes were built in Hungary and then shipped to Long Beach before eventually reaching Maui.

"We would like to gift these to those owners who may not have the means to rebuild. Once the toxins are cleaned off their land they can relocate this to their land," Family Life Center COO Ashley Kelly said.

The modular homes are 160 square feet, they collapse to two feet tall and when popped up they go eight feet high. They can be set up in a few days.

"It has some nice home-like features that make it feel more comfortable," Kelly said.

Family Life Center is creating the Ohana Hope Village in Maui. It will have 80 of the modular homes in a neighborhood with the design detailed to being fire resistant.

"Because of the trauma-informed design, the homes had to be at least five feet apart from each other, with gravel all around for the most fire abatement," Kelly said.

The nonprofit is privately funded and is able to provide the modular homes at no cost to Maui fire victims. There are already 500 applicants for one of these steel homes.

"We are going to be putting this together and providing them to those who are displaced rent free, so they're not going to have to pay anything to live there," Kelly said.

Family Life Center says these pop-up homes will be delivered to Maui on Oct. 23.