As Maui goes forward with aggressive measures to phase out 50% of its short-term rentals, Oahu signals its readiness to follow. A big shift in Hawaii’s vacation rental approach is upon us.
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As Maui goes forward with aggressive measures to phase out 50% of its short-term rentals, Oahu signals its readiness to follow. A big shift in Hawaii’s vacation rental approach is upon us.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Ya have to bit the bullet and start somewhere.
Stop sales for none island residents. No short term rentals of single family residents, condos and houses.
Tourism will come back, even if the tourist has to pay more. Some might go to other vacation spots but there only one Hawaii. Locals that were born and raised here shouldn’t have to move to live.
I don’t understand how this is going to work. Maui needs affordable housing. Former STRs won’t be affordable. Even if values tank 30% (and they won’t), that’ll make entry level $1M for that market along with monthlys on the order of $2,500. I doubt most will be able to afford these properties.
Regarding tourism rebounding even as it prices continue to escalate, This likely won’t be the case. Declining visitor rates are a harbinger of bad things and may well accelerate. The golden goose is coughing and this isn’t the right medicine.
This has nothing to do with neighborhoods, affordable housing, or overtourism. It has everything to do with the hotel industry wanting STR business, which they have been trying to do since 2016 by getting into bed with the politicians and the grass roots organizations.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, other places that limited STVR saw no reduction in housing prices. Of course, there are some affordable Maui properties that would become available with the proposed law. However, looking at the Monatoya List it’s clear that most are oceanfront or across the road from the ocean. Real Estate has always been such that these properties will retain value and remain higher cost. Plus most of these already have high $1000 – $2000 monthly HOA’s. The only way these properties become affordable is if they were to deteriorate to unlivable repair status. Or….I’m waiting for the next crazy Hi State idea: buy them and resell them to residents at 1/3 cost while covering the HOA fees in perpetuity.
The states can control what the housing will be used for through zoning laws. However, it’s against the law to “stop sales to none island residents” as you suggest.
States cannot make laws that only allow residents to buy homes, as fair housing laws prohibit this discrimination in housing. The federal Fair Housing Act of 1968
Same tired rhetoric from short sighted and dishonest politicians. Blame the STR’s for the housing “shortage” If Maui is 7,000 bedrooms short, cut loose with building permits and sell state owned property sufficient to accommodate those units. Do it immediately, and zoning can be placed (no STR’s, residential, ag, etc.) and get them built. That way the rules are in place day one. Changing the rules on existing owners is unfair, whether you like STR’s or not is irrelevant. It’s fallacious thinking to presume banning STR’s will increase housing availability to Hawaii residents. Most owners will do without the income and curtail spending and investment! Per usual, Gov’t is the problem, not the solution to Hawaii’s housing shortage!
Why the constant all or nothing approach? Why not allow resort zones to remain resort zones and allow primary residents to rent a room out as a STR for up to 120 days a year as other places do? Then crack down on the rest. Actually enforce laws that already exist. Locals should be able to make money off tourism too and few of them would take on a long term tenant anyway.
“Island Tourists are their economy. What are you going to replace that with.” That’s a very good question. Its been a question for quite some time. But no one was motivated to come up with real answers. Then Lahaina disappeared. Now we have a very good reason to re-think tourism as the engine of Maui’s economy. Its almost as if Lahaina burnt down to wake us up. Maui has people who make their lives here. Visitors are just fine, but over the years, the attitude seemed that we owed them something. It seemed they forgot where they were visiting. Any do-over with tourism is going to have to take a better appreciation of what Maui (its residents) are about. Hint: Shock! its not about money.
First, I should say that I am not nor ever have been a property owner in Hawaii. I am, however, a lover of our beautiful 50th state, and have visited some twenty times for a week or more over the past 25 years.
While I understand the urgent need for temporary housing for those affected by the devastating fire in Maui last August, what Maui County and Oahu County have done or are considering is a clear and dangerous breach of one of the foundations of American liberty and opportunity. The legal challenges may survive the very liberal Hawaii supreme court and the equally liberal 9th Circuit, but it will be refuted and overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court–and it should be.
Feel free to explain to us how, given your explanation, this list of just a few cities and countries (most much larger populations than the entire State of Hawaii) where speculative short term rentals have already been severely restricted ……or banned entirely?
Just New York City alone is larger than all of Hawaii…
– New York City
– Barcelona
– New Zealand
– Palm Beach
– Berlin
– Amsterdam
– Santa Monica
– San Francisco
– Canada
– Malaysia
– All over Montana
– Irvine
– Japan
– Santa Ana
– Palm Springs
– Florence, Italy
– Munich
– All over Colorado
– Netherlands
– France
– Too many to list
Wow! I didn’t know it was this many! Can anyone say, precedence? I’ve heard that courts like that word. LOL
Great comment, Bill. Thank you.
Right. And all of our islands have already severely restricted and/or banned STRs entirely as well, painstakingly, over many years of legislation. Oahu can’t rent for less than 30 days, Maui can’t build any more STRs and has hard caps on the areas that already have them, Molokai doesn’t allow STRs at all, etc. etc.
So add Maui, Kauai, the Big Island, Molokai, Lanai, and Oahu to the list. It will make your cut-and-paste list even longer and more impressive.
Who cares how many places banned or restricted STR. Look up what happened in many of those places. In the California locations (you didn’t list Lake Tahoe). Prices for available homes actually went up after the ban. It does work in some areas like NYC. But almost everything in NYC are apartments/condos. It’s a very different place.
There will be no court cases, or at least the STR property owners won’t win. Why? Two words: Zoning laws. The local government can change them to whatever they want and that law applies no matter what anyone says. Don’t believe me? Try and construct a building or use one that is already built for a different purpose than the zoning laws allow and see what happens. Also, everyone who owns property is beholden to pay taxes. The local government has the right to decide how much those taxes will be. And then there’s a little thing called imminent domain. Ever hear of that?
Yes. I am quite familiar with eminent (not imminent) domain. It’s intended for public use only–not for private individuals, who are the beneficiaries ofthe new Hawaii law. So there’s that, which makes the Hawaii law a direct breach of that fundamental principle of American private property rights. For example, building a highway or railroad trumps private property rights for the greater public good. Your confidence in local zoning laws prevailing over private property rights is naive and ill-founded. And you’re flat wrong when you say “there will be no court cases”. I’ll bet you a 7-night Hawaii vacation on it.
Don B., you made me smile. It’s nice 2 know we can still have a sense of humor with this whole difficult matter. Thank u for correcting my misspelling. I blame auto-correct. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. LOL On the other hand, u got stuck on that 1 point of eminent domain. I only mentioned it as an example government power, over everyone’s so-called property rights, e.g., zoning laws & property taxes as mentioned earlier. Besides, I’m no expert on law, but I can tell u this. You’re in for a long, hard, very expensive & maybe losing battle if you go against the government and hotel lobbyists. Especially when it’s currently politically popular to go against STR owners. If you do, May the force be with you…always…
Won’t be a long hard court case at all. Property owners who have established a vested right in a property’s use as an STR are protected by the takings clause of both the Hawaii State and U.S. Constitution. A change in law or zoning cannot abrogate that right. Last time Blangiardi tried this (the Hawaii Short Term Rental Alliance case challenging Hnl’s attempt to lengthen the minimum rental period to 180 days) he was spanked badly in Fedl court. The case didnt even make it to trial, but rather, the Mayor lost in pretrial pleadings. An established, lawful use of a property cannot be ended by govt w/out just compensation, and the courts have long-established short term rentals as a lawful residential use.
Maybe you’re right, maybe not. Just remember, politics is downstream from culture. No matter what you or anyone else try and quote with the law, local people decide how their local area is run. The over saturation of STRs and tourism is an untenable problem that is no longer being tolerated. It’s over and action is already being taken. Arm chair lawyers keep stating that the current law will probably be struck down if it reaches the Supreme Court. Maybe, but it seems unlikely they will involve themselves with what is clearly a local issue for the State to resolve. If it even reaches them at all. My common sense says it won’t. This law will stand because the residents of Hawaii want it. This supersedes what an outside investor wants.
Haven’t heard of imminent domain.
But have heard of eminent domain and also the Constitutional 5th Amendment’s Takings Clause.
Elen, you made me smile too. Thank you for the correction. Again, auto-correct. That story is just as good as any, right? LOL To your point, I have never heard of the Constitutional 5th Amendment’s taking clause. You may have a point. However, even if you do, as I mentioned to Don B., prepare for the battle of the century. Those with the most money, wins! Who do you think that will be? Individual STR owners who will probably struggle to form a cohesive group, or the hotel owners and the government? Hmmmm…tough call…only time will tell. May the best lawyers win.
In other words, these folks (just like everyone in the world) are under the illusion that they own their property. They don’t. Stop paying the taxes if you don’t believe me and see what happens. You just get to rent it for a little and hopefully enjoy it while you do. These things have Always been true and always will be true. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
Despite the broad powers of zoning laws, there are always instances where a municipality oversteps its authority. This could be one of them. For example, some of these properties are already zoned Hotel. To just issue a blank, sweeping edict without considering prior in-place laws and zoning regulations and the potential detrimental reliance by the property owners, and other concepts of law, should be looked at closely by the courts. There should be some burden on Bissen to show how it actually serves his purposes as well – we aren’t sure it really does. Given the sheer numbers and magnitude of Bissen’s over-zealous restrictions, the STR owners definitely have a chance. Especially in Federal court. RC
Could be and actually is are two different things aren’t they? Besides, who said it was a blank, sweeping edict? Please share where it says that in the new law. And lest ye forget, the government is by the people and for the people. The people have voted, hence they have spoken. This is why it is the law. State sovereignty rights my friend.
What’s your point? Anyone can sue anyone in civil court.
Jim O, it looks like you completely missed my point. That happens to me sometimes. No worries, it’s all good. Wishing you the best my friend.
Thanks for quoting my original comment in this follow-up story. As I also said previously, the Maui case is unique because the rights granted by the Minatoya list were codified into law back in 2015. Therefore, Bissen and his cronies and the groups he’s pandering to, like Lahaina Strong, can’t necessarily rely on other jurisdictions where restrictive laws have been enacted from scratch without any prior existing laws, as precedent for their overly broad plans. This is an important difference that the courts will take into consideration. Any lawsuits should and probably will take place in both State and Federal courts, with Federal courts probably being the most open to giving the owner’s arguments the fairest consideration.
At.
Although obviously unpopular with property owners with rental intentions, I believe this has a chance of solving the visitor overcrowding concern and all the negatives that go with it!
Jim E
Visitors keep the lights on and the fire and police departments staffed in Maui. They are the only source of income for the island now.
Which is it ? Are the politicians that stupid, or are the politicians
that corrupt? They can’t be that stupid, so they must be more corrupt
than was ever imagined.
One party completely controls HI. Only 4 legislators voted against the bill that triggered this hot mess.
One party controls all political activity in HI.
Pay for play seems like a reasonable assumption.
NY Times 10/26/23 article highlighted massive corruption.
Completely preventable Lahaina fire caused by incompetent politicians. But it will never be reported that way.
If condo properties which allow STRs have that option taken away from them, the value of the condos will drop. I own my oceanfront condo in a building that allows STRs. I live in mine and don’t rent it out but have already seen results of what is to come.
A number of units have been rented out by FEMA to displaced fire victims. Typically, they have multiple, oversized, vehicles as opposed to one rental car. My parking space is occupied at this moment, and I am parked on the street. Items are being filched in the laundry room as well, and locals bring extended families over to use the pool!
Undoubtedly, my condo will plummet in value from this action.
Maui is my favorite of the Hawaiian Islands to visit. I am not rich and I have to curtail spending in order to save money so I can visit. I stay in STRs as they are more economical.
Unfortunately, with the way things look now, I will not be able to afford to come and experience aloha, and return it, on any of your beautiful islands, in addition to contributing to your economy and providing employment.
For me, it is a sad and heartbreaking day.
That said, I will still make contributions, though small they may be, to the many Hawaiian sea,
animal, and bird welfare and rescue organizations.
Josh Green and the rest of the Hawaii legislature are shooting themselves in the foot and they don’t care. Tourism is Hawaii’s bread & butter; they have no other industry! Yet they are blaming tourists, and STRs, for all the problems rather than looking in the mirror. As someone that has visited for over 40 years, and lived on Oahu and Kauai for 14 years, I can tell you that I probably will Never visit Hawaii again. There are many other places on this planet that is more friendly, and affordable, to visit than} llHawaii. Aloha!
Very sad Goldie. I’m not sure the Aloha is so damaged. The people so hostile to “outsiders” seems to be a small vocal minority. Our Maui friends do not see outright hostility. I see many reviews of recent Maui visitors that say they had wonderful visits.
All of Green’s pandering to extremists for votes will not result in sustainable solutions. I believe a balance will come in time, with more attention to need for housing and over-touristing while recognizing that the economic support from vacationers will never be replaced by mythical “other industries” in any mid-term.
I said it before, it’s in the article, I’m saying it again.
“If you have or use an STR in resort zoning, go for it. Those should be allowed. If it is in residential or ag zoning, it needs to be banned as those zones are for residents.”
The counties need to ban all of the housing speculators and their mini-hotels in residential or ag across the entire state permanently.
Tourism existed fine long before people were allowed to setup mini-hotels in residential and ag zoning.
As a precedent, there are already countless jurisdictions nationally and globally who have already successfully banned or highly restricted STRs. Why? Because everyone knows they are a major problem that destroy local communities.
For the life of me I don’t understand why the owners of Str’s and the tourist is the problem with housing. For years the government had allowed Str’s to be built and set back and enjoyed all the taxes, fees and tourists dollars. Unfortunately the Lahaina fire has brought the problem to the fore front and your Politian’s are blaming every tourist and str owner they can. Instead try looking in a mirror. After almost 25 years of vacationing on Maui each spring, I am just about done. Very tired of being labeled the bad guy.
Because you don’t live in Hawaii, you are just passing through as a tourist, so you do not understand the dynamics at play with the absurd housing costs and out-migration of the labor force.
Kapalua Ridge is not housing stock for local residents but they are being told no more short term rentals.
Yes. $1 million to $3 million Kapalua Ridge homes will never be affordable. They will just be picked up by wealthier people who can afford to leave them empty 9 to 11 months of the year.
Many of the gigantic homes in Lanikai, obviously are built in sections that are rentable rather than residences. This short term rental thing doesn’t effect me because when I visit Oahu, I stay with friends that are as close as my Ohana but I can see the ordinance effecting tourism deeply negatively. The planning and zoning commission should have looked closer at the permits asked for and where they were asked for.
And so it begins. I have little doubt that the STR owners are going to ban together to fight this policy. Not being a rental owner, nor one that patronizes STRs, I’m unbiased. But, if the Counties think they can, in effect, expropriate the rights of the housing owners and tell them they have to rent only to locals, and at a price those folks can ‘afford’ (a significant word here!), that should make an interesting court case!
I sympathize with the local folks trying to find affordable housing, especially the ‘service’ industry workers, but this is not the way to do it.
OK, what Is the way to do it?
I am not sure how all this will play out. The reality of this world is they with the most money wins. I truly believe Maui will slowly become a playground for the wealthy much more than it is today. Non wealthy people won’t be able to wait out the recovery process so the vultures will just circle until the time is right. But what I really don’t understand is how the Maui mayor is still the mayor after his complete failure in addressing the wildfire in any measurable way. IMO he should be in jail along with the former emergency management director.
Imagine the world that these politicians driving toward for Maui in 10 years: 25% less tourism. 20% less jobs. Higher supply of workers vs. available jobs resulting in reduced wages and even harder to make a living. Continued worker ex-migration. Near rental monopoly by off-island hotel chains. Much higher hotel rates & fees, resulting in less spending outside of the hotels. Former STVR’s being bought by wealthy for 1-3 month stays (leaving vacant 9 – 12 months). This resulting in even less spending. Other marginal (high maint., failing structures, etc.) STVR buildings abandoned and condemned. 30% failure/closing of local businesses. Increased food costs with fewer residents supporting grocery stores.
Well Its apparent there is a bigger agenda behind theshutting down of STR’s. If car rental agencies, for example, close or layoff employees, due to lack of tourists = Less people employed = less reason to stay on island = less need for Housing…but the real word is Affordable housing. Our cost, today, without HOA’s going up is over 50K a year. And we have owned a 1-1 for 25 years, in an old building. There are so many flaws and lies in their plan it would be laughable, if not so sad. The path is so obvious..how do they think no one else see’s through their lies. The Hotels are very silent, wonder why? Island Tourists are their economy. What are you going to replace that with?
Amen Rose. Tourists provide the only source of revenue to Maui now. Maui exports nothing else of value. Tourism is dropping off now. Unemployed residents that work in the tourism industry will bail out so there will be plenty of housing. But those needing it won’t have any income. Property taxes are obscene. Local government has failed including letting Lahaina burn. Totally preventable if they had done their jobs.
This legislation is a great first step.
Next the curse of corporate and investment ownership of Family Residences must stopped.
It is evil to allow Big Business and the Wealthy to monopolize housing.
Housing has been made so expensive that the young generation is forced into poverty and have become like hopeless slaves.
One social security number should be allowed one residence- this would address corporate, foreign, and investment monopolies.
With all due respect, you don’t get it. Not all STRs are owned by large corporations – many of us own just one. And very few of the STRs are suitable for local housing – oceanfront units were never meant to be affordable housing for workers. If the county prohibits oceanfront housing from being STRs, owners will just convert them to second homes. And Bisson, Green and their minions cannot outlaw using a property you own for yourself. So where does that leave Maui? With a bunch of empty units that used to be generating tax revenue and jobs for locals. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face. And who will be the winner? Hotels. Boy, did locals get played here. But maybe they like being used as pawns of mega-corporations.
Do the locals utilize STR’s when they do their Vegas vacations? Just wonderin’.
To Curtis C Maybe the Vegas hotels give them kaamaina rates.
To Curtis C Maybe the Vegas hotels give them kaamaina rates. As for the housing crisis, here’s an idea. Why not turn all the unsold timeshares into affordable housing.
I own a house in Oahu and applied for a permit to expand the house by adding 2 additional bedrooms…. 2 years later, I am still waiting for the permit. If Governor Lee or Mayor Bissen were even slightly serious about dealing with the housing crisis, they would focus on streamlining the permitting process for construction and easing zoning restrictions on the construction of affordable multi-family housing. However, it is obviously easier to blame somebody else for the housing market crisis than to admit the obvious… It is Their failing policies that have caused and perpetuate the housing crisis. Vote both of those damn bums out at the earliest opportunity.
I started purchasing condos in Hilo area about 20 years ago, renovated, and rented to locals. Every time the selling price of the condos went up the county commission raised the taxes on all the condos in the building. It soon became apparent that the county was not interested in keeping rental costs down to what locals could afford to pay. In 2020 they raised the taxes 15%, 2021 19%, 2022 19% 2023 19% . I stopped renting to locals since they could not afford the cost for a proper profit margin to me. I am not a STVR operation but I do not have any HI residents renting from me. The locals can not even afford to buy the condos at the prices they now are. BD
Hopefully this is exactly how the counties will address the situation. Kauai has tourist zones of Poipu and Princeville where vacation rentals proliferate. Other areas such as Kapaa fall somewhere in the middle and other residential areas should be exclusive to residents or long term rentals.
I’m a retired resident on Oahu, sometimes I go to the mainland to visit family for a few months, so if I have to rent my apartment for a minimum of 6 months, how does that affect my residency status since it says residency status is 200 days? This doesn’t compute and affects my property rights.
Why do these politicians keep beating a dead horse? It’s quite obvious, none of the state or county elected officials are willing to accept any blame for the problem. It was a self inflicted cancer that started over 30 years ago. They had no reservations regarding their pockets being stuffed by developers. They also totally disregarded their duty to supply affordable housing for the populace. Let’s get real here. How many of the hundreds of condominium complexes do you actually believe were built for long term housing? They were 100% built for STR vacation rentals. You made your bed, now sleep in it.
Definitely your opinion and perspective matter but I think that you are not correct about the hotels.
Hotels have taken the position of turning former hotels into timeshares to offset their burden of keeping the property maintained. They have turned this “headache” over to under informed buyers.
Hotels don’t want to make more investments, they want to instead increase their margins… and find that restricting STRs, as they have been lobbying Hawaii State Legislators to do for a very long time, is more profitable.
Check into this and you’ll see there’s more to the story than what you may have first realized.
Mayor Bissen being a retired judge probably is the best person to figure out the legality issues.
The economics impact such as tax reduction and unemployment related to tourism may hit harder over time.
Oh, please – thinking he knows what he is doing because he is a retired judge? Well, he failed the first test, as a human being, when he sat in an office far from the Lahaina fire and declared that everything was A-OK. That man should be in prison.
As a frequent visitor I’m all for it and I hope every county follows their lead
VRBO and AIRBNB essentially circumvented existing zoning laws. There is a restriction on building more hotels – for that exact same reason. All these tourist rentals essentially makes everything a hotel. I am a tourist and I for one hope that state of Hawaii succeeds in limiting these rentals. All the people crying about taking money out of the local economy are really just worried about their own gains. The vast majority of these rentals are owned by non-Hawaiians. You essentially take the living space away from locals by converting any and all type of housing to rent to short -term tourists who are willing to spend outrageous prices once a week per year, or every few years. It’s wrong and no local benefits – so please, shut it all down.
Awesome Comment!
Thank you, you took the words right out of my mouth.
All of these housing speculators will whine and complain that they are “job creators” and “no locals could afford my mini-hotel anyway”, but they are in it for profit.
Dump it all from Ag and Residential.
So true, Tja. Great comment.
The politicians are driven by one thing and it’s not “ what’s best” for any stakeholders except themselves. There’s obviously a lot of $ flowing into their campaigns. That’s the driver. If they succeed in destroying the Hawaii short-term rental industry, there will be plenty of housing available because unemployment will skyrocket and thousands of workers will move to the mainland in droves. Tax revenue will crater. Those remaining will be taxed so much only the Uber-rich and those on welfare will stay. Infrastructure and essential services will deteriorate to the unsafe level.
Well, in some ways, your prediction could be, as Yogi Berra sorta said, “de ja vu all over again’, in that back in the mid-20 century, the vast majority could not afford to go to HI, either by boat or PanAm. Things changed with the 70s and 80s with both mainland and foreign investment, building big hotels for tourists who now found airfare to HI affordable. I’d like to see most of those big hotels demolished, trying to get HI back to where it was, but that isn’t going to happen, and the gov’t keeps giving them more building permits. I’ve watched this happen with Westin on Maui the last couple of years. It isn’t going to get better, folks, quite the opposite.
Today being Mother’s Day, my mom always said (Rest her soul) .. be careful what you wish for. I and my spouse, like me own mother and father did some two decades ago, to at least yearly to Hawaii.. as much as we dont like the idea, it may be time to look for a new “best place in the world” to go to..
For some reason, I just can’t see the merit in keeping both locals and others from having STRs. I think there is more behind all this… but I am not smart enough to know exactly what that is or even more importantly, “why”…??
I guess the old axiom should still be “follow the money stupid!”
Maybe then we can get to the bottom of all this!
More local anti-caucasian and mainland bias . How far can this state go while being within the constitution. “never let a good crisis like the Maui fire go to waste. Fifty percent of “Hawaiian natives” receive a government check, As well as the many employees of STR who will have to leave the island. And the plan now calls for an increase of the ridiculous 18% tax on visitors.
This plan will tilt towards visitors who are wealthy, discriminating against the middle class.
The obvious footprint of the hotel lobby is so evident; the large, organized hotel chains benefitting from this conflict of interest. As to finding a fair Judge, good luck with that.
When I travel, I always use STR’s, especially when the alternative are excessively priced hotels.
If I can’t find an affordable place I would like to stay in, isn’t it obvious that I would go somewhere else for my vacations.
Frankly, this is a zoning thing and ultimately that is how it should be controlled.
How do they expect residents to afford to live in these rentals? Particularly if they may not have jobs due to the lack of tourism. Where is all this money going to come from? Lack of tourism is going to eventually affect everything.
That’s just the point, people making low wages in service jobs will not be able to afford to live in former STRs. And owners, whether private of corporate, are not going to rent to people making low wages, whether out of need, or greed. Housing costs are beyond the reach of the average HI resident. Take a look at Zillow sometime and look not only at the cost of housing, but also in the case of condos/townhouses, the monthly HOA fees. On top of high quoted mortgages, HOAs are mostly 4-figures or close to it. As a retiree, I make over $100K/year, and I can’t afford a modest 2-bd condo. How is a service worker going to???
You are right. It’s simple economics. It costs $7,000 to $8,000 to own a $700,000 condo in the Minatoya List areas. HOA fees, mortgage, utilities, property tax, insurance, maintenance. A property owner would have to rent out the same place for $8,000 to $9,000 a month. How many service workers, police, or firefighters will be buying or renting? None.
The politicians promising that these laws will fix the housing problems are either incompetent or opportunists looking for votes or Hotel Industry campaign contributions. It doesn’t make economic sense, and residents of Maui are going to be sorely disappointed (again).
Very true. Nothing is cheap or free on Maui. However the state of Hawaii owns a lot of land…. they can afford to give up some of those lands for its residents but the residents would have to pay to have housing materials shipped. Pay for a contractor to build it. The only way I see it.
I predict this situation will eventually make it to the U.S. Supreme Court and when it does it will be defeated by a large majority of the Judges, most likely all 9 of them. I hope by that time all these politicians are severely defeated by then and a way is provided to make them pay through the nose!
I believe that cases like this have already ended up there. Since the county is “taking” the rights of a property owner to receive income for what they own without just compensation, I think it will blow up when it gets to the hight court. I believe the Kauai model works like this: the “tourist” zones like Poipu allow short term rentals, new ones are not permitted in residential zones and the old ones are, one by one falling away as once they stop their “grandfather” clause ends. It seems to work as a good balance. I think Maui will end up more like Kauai when the court battles are over.
I do not understand why an actual Hawaiian family would want to live in a one-bedroom condo in Kihei. And I don’t understand how it’s even legal, after decades of use as a condo, for the government to take property away from a private owner and throw visitors into confusion. I don’t understand why there is suddenly so much hatred. Has there always been hatred? And only now we see it? Lahaina burned down because the government in Hawaii is inept and careless. Imagine. Maui didn’t even have a fire marshal! Why’s that? Why didn’t they? With all those repeating fires all the time? Hawaii looks out of control. This is so sad and stupid.
It will be both funny and sad to watch the Hawaii economy be like the second coming of the scamdemic led once again by a man, whose primary mantra as a doctor is “first do no harm” yet he and his sycophants will end up doing damage that will likely never be reversed unless the courts slap them down big time!
We hate our Maintenance Fees But right now, I’m sorta glad we have our timeshares!
I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve had a timeshare for over 20 years on Maui, it’s the only way I can afford to visit. But, that may all come to an end, as I saw mine listed with others on the Counties list of properties. Hope they aren’t going to make a ‘housing project’ out of it and force us out, if only consists of 28 units. Who can say what they have in mind.? More housing needs to be bilt and supported by the State so locals have a place to live. It probably won’t be nice 2000 sqft single family homes, but at least with County/State support, they could be ‘affordable’ rentals.