Vacation rental owners say punishing them won’t solve Maui’s housing crisis

MAALAEA (HawaiiNewsNow) - As Maui County officials move to ban thousands of vacation rentals, property owners are now pushing back.

They say punishing them will not solve the island’s housing crisis.

Many condos in Maalaea are on Maui County’s “Minatoya list” — a list of 7,000 legal short-term rentals exempt from going through the typical permitting process.

Last week, Mayor Richard Bissen announced his plan to phase them all out in an effort to provide more housing for local residents.

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Makawao resident Eve Hogan owns one and has lived on island for more than 30 years. She is not convinced that plan will work.

“Everybody wants to say vacation rentals are the reason for the housing crisis. But that’s ignoring the lack of government planning,” Hogan said.

The bold move comes after months of protests and Lahaina fire survivors demanding government officials prioritize housing for locals.

“We understand that there’s going to be a give and take. So, the question is, what is most important? And our priority is housing our local residents. Especially now,” Bissen said, in a news conference last Thursday.

Hogan said banning vacation rentals is not the answer.

“Oceanfront condos are not going to translate to affordable housing. They may translate to housing, but they will not translate to affordable housing,” she said.

Also last week, Gov. Josh Green signed Senate Bill 2919 into law.

It will give the counties the power to convert short-term rentals into long-term rentals and ban vacation rentals in communities that do not want them.

In a statement, Hawaii Realtors said the state should focus on illegal vacation rentals instead.

“Hawai’i REALTORS® strongly supports increasing affordable housing, but this bill does not address the true causes of this shortage, including onerous regulations, excessive red tape, and high building costs.”

“Show us the math on how you’re going to replace the MCTAT, the TAT, the GE and the income tax,” said Hogan. “The county is going to have to replace the property taxes that they’re going to lose somewhere, and I would be willing to bet the only way to do that is to raise the property taxes for everyone.”

The Maui Planning Commissions and Council still needs to sign off.

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