188 thoughts on “Clash Over Hawaii Vacation Rentals Includes Tourists, Residents, Special Interests”
Drew808
It’s worth noting the difference between hosted vacation rentals and unhosted. Those who live and work in Hawaii and earn additional income by renting out a room or ‘ohana unit are not the folks being targeted here. Folks who live off-island, buy one or more homes to rent them out are the primary targets, and deservedly so. They’re driving up housing prices and depleting available housing for locals.
Something is confusing me; perhaps someone here knows the answer.
The 2nd paragraph of HB1838, a companion bill to SB2919 recently dealt with in the House, says:
“ The legislature further finds that while nonconforming uses in industrial, commercial, resort, and apartment zones may be eliminated or phased out over a period of time when nonconforming uses are discontinued via county ordinance, no such allowance is given in areas zoned for residential use.”
So HB1838 only seems to be addressing Residential zones.
Am I reading this right that short-term rental use in industrial, commercial, resort, and apartment (e.g. Minatoya) zones can *already* be discontinued via county ordinance?
Maui will no longer be affordable for middle-class tourists if this problem can’t be solved. If the cost of a Hawaiian vacation continues to rise, even the upper class will go elsewhere. That would be devastating to the local economy if both groups are alienated.
Definitely less inclined. Hotel prices are out of reach for us. If hotels were the only option, we would not visit. The price of hotels, on top of skyrocketing airline and rental car prices, is making the Caribbean, Costa Rica, and Mexico look a whole lot better.
The article states “When many travel to Hawaii, they like the idea of a vacation rental with a kitchen, living room, and separate bedroom. It provides the feeling of having a more local experience.”
I disagree. It’s got little to do with the local experience, and more to do with being able to afford room for a 4 person family. Have you checked the ridiculous hotel rates in Poipu, or anywhere else for that matter? VRBO rentals probably cost close to the same as the hotels, but you get a lot more space as well as a kitchen to cook food in.
I guess the kind of “mindfull visitors” gov Green are courting, are not those “mindful” of the outright and blatant surcharge hotels, restaraunts, golf courses etc inflict upon the visitors!
I charge 259 per night for a three bedroom, two bath, beautiful short term, vacation rental, hardly even close to the cost of a hotel room which ranges from $700-$1200 per night, it’s a no-brainer for most people to stay in a VRBO Unless they’ve got too much money to blow
I prefer to stay in a vacation rental. It’s so nice to have a kitchen, and it often gives me the opportunity to meet the locals and learn about non-touristy things to do (and eat).
But you definitely get more bang for your buck in a vacay rental.
Would still be going to Hawaii every year . Own timeshares which or not considered vacation rentals . Only stayed in Hotels 2-3x over 20 years ; preferred a resort timeshare ( apt) .
My wife and I owned a condo in Kihei from 2002 to 2016. We sold and moved to the mainland as we were priced out of paradise. At the time we said we’d simply return each year to get our Maui fix. Now it’s every two years because of the expense, and if we had to stay in the hotels in south Maui, well we’d simply go on a cruise. I attended college on Oahu and have a love for Hawaii that most can not understand, but the Maui and Hawaii of today is quickly becoming unaffordable and unrecognizable.
I don’t understand the complaint that short-term rental units have depleted the availability of rental housing for locals. It my guess that most of this housing in the form of condos and townhouses or expensive vacation homes were built to sell as second vacation homes that were turned into short-term rentals. These rentals bring visitors who spend money and provide jobs and income for locals. Without the income/jobs–how could a local afford to rent a condo in kaanapali or kihei anyway? The Hawaiian govt. seems to have gone crazy with this idea that visitors are evil and they should just send checks (federal funds) but stay home. There is a housing shortage in Hawaii but there’s a housing shortage in most of the US. Built more
As far as turning my house over to long-term Vacation Rental, several years ago, I read an article in West Hawaii Today concerning a landlord, trying to evict tenants that have not paid rent for three months also trashing the house. In this article, it stated that Big Island sheriffs will not carry out eviction notices. Therefore the landlord had to hire two sheriffs from Maui to fly over to serve eviction papers and it cost the landlord $10,000 to have the tenant served after they’ve trashed the house and not paid rent for three months, I intend to sell at today’s market value rather than rent and have my home that I work so hard for trashed, so much for the governors idea of turning STVR’s to local rentals
On Maui, 27,000 out of 73,000 housing units is a short-term rental. You don’t think having over 1 out of every 3 homes (37%!) as a short-term rental has any impact on rental and home prices?
Much of the data regarding vacation rentals is just plain wrong. The idea that returning vacation rentals to the long-term rental market to improve housing stock is a lie. It won’t reduce prices, and the county will be faced with lawsuits if they force homeowners move to long-term rentals. Who is going to make up the financial shortfall? Owners don’t want to be landlords, they will sell, and those will sell at market rate not some discounted price.
The prop of short-term rental income is what’s driving home prices higher. Once you remove that, the “market rate” for housing is a Lot lower. Also note that AirBnB has never been through a recession, so once that hits, this problem will likely correct itself through defaults and foreclosures.
This has not happened in other resort and visitor-centric communities with a significant amount of short-term rentals. In those communities, when short-term rentals were banned, property values went down temporarily by an average of 1-3%, which was quickly erased the following year due to inflation.
The slight reduction in prices was hardly “a lot lower”. Eager, hopeful buyers-to-be in those areas were a bit disappointed.
It’s worth noting the difference between hosted vacation rentals and unhosted. Those who live and work in Hawaii and earn additional income by renting out a room or ‘ohana unit are not the folks being targeted here. Folks who live off-island, buy one or more homes to rent them out are the primary targets, and deservedly so. They’re driving up housing prices and depleting available housing for locals.
Something is confusing me; perhaps someone here knows the answer.
The 2nd paragraph of HB1838, a companion bill to SB2919 recently dealt with in the House, says:
“ The legislature further finds that while nonconforming uses in industrial, commercial, resort, and apartment zones may be eliminated or phased out over a period of time when nonconforming uses are discontinued via county ordinance, no such allowance is given in areas zoned for residential use.”
So HB1838 only seems to be addressing Residential zones.
Am I reading this right that short-term rental use in industrial, commercial, resort, and apartment (e.g. Minatoya) zones can *already* be discontinued via county ordinance?
Maui will no longer be affordable for middle-class tourists if this problem can’t be solved. If the cost of a Hawaiian vacation continues to rise, even the upper class will go elsewhere. That would be devastating to the local economy if both groups are alienated.
I have been contemplating a month-long stay in Honolulu. This would change my plans.
Definitely less inclined. Hotel prices are out of reach for us. If hotels were the only option, we would not visit. The price of hotels, on top of skyrocketing airline and rental car prices, is making the Caribbean, Costa Rica, and Mexico look a whole lot better.
The article states “When many travel to Hawaii, they like the idea of a vacation rental with a kitchen, living room, and separate bedroom. It provides the feeling of having a more local experience.”
I disagree. It’s got little to do with the local experience, and more to do with being able to afford room for a 4 person family. Have you checked the ridiculous hotel rates in Poipu, or anywhere else for that matter? VRBO rentals probably cost close to the same as the hotels, but you get a lot more space as well as a kitchen to cook food in.
I guess the kind of “mindfull visitors” gov Green are courting, are not those “mindful” of the outright and blatant surcharge hotels, restaraunts, golf courses etc inflict upon the visitors!
I charge 259 per night for a three bedroom, two bath, beautiful short term, vacation rental, hardly even close to the cost of a hotel room which ranges from $700-$1200 per night, it’s a no-brainer for most people to stay in a VRBO Unless they’ve got too much money to blow
I prefer to stay in a vacation rental. It’s so nice to have a kitchen, and it often gives me the opportunity to meet the locals and learn about non-touristy things to do (and eat).
But you definitely get more bang for your buck in a vacay rental.
Would still be going to Hawaii every year . Own timeshares which or not considered vacation rentals . Only stayed in Hotels 2-3x over 20 years ; preferred a resort timeshare ( apt) .
My wife and I owned a condo in Kihei from 2002 to 2016. We sold and moved to the mainland as we were priced out of paradise. At the time we said we’d simply return each year to get our Maui fix. Now it’s every two years because of the expense, and if we had to stay in the hotels in south Maui, well we’d simply go on a cruise. I attended college on Oahu and have a love for Hawaii that most can not understand, but the Maui and Hawaii of today is quickly becoming unaffordable and unrecognizable.
I don’t understand the complaint that short-term rental units have depleted the availability of rental housing for locals. It my guess that most of this housing in the form of condos and townhouses or expensive vacation homes were built to sell as second vacation homes that were turned into short-term rentals. These rentals bring visitors who spend money and provide jobs and income for locals. Without the income/jobs–how could a local afford to rent a condo in kaanapali or kihei anyway? The Hawaiian govt. seems to have gone crazy with this idea that visitors are evil and they should just send checks (federal funds) but stay home. There is a housing shortage in Hawaii but there’s a housing shortage in most of the US. Built more
As far as turning my house over to long-term Vacation Rental, several years ago, I read an article in West Hawaii Today concerning a landlord, trying to evict tenants that have not paid rent for three months also trashing the house. In this article, it stated that Big Island sheriffs will not carry out eviction notices. Therefore the landlord had to hire two sheriffs from Maui to fly over to serve eviction papers and it cost the landlord $10,000 to have the tenant served after they’ve trashed the house and not paid rent for three months, I intend to sell at today’s market value rather than rent and have my home that I work so hard for trashed, so much for the governors idea of turning STVR’s to local rentals
On Maui, 27,000 out of 73,000 housing units is a short-term rental. You don’t think having over 1 out of every 3 homes (37%!) as a short-term rental has any impact on rental and home prices?
Much of the data regarding vacation rentals is just plain wrong. The idea that returning vacation rentals to the long-term rental market to improve housing stock is a lie. It won’t reduce prices, and the county will be faced with lawsuits if they force homeowners move to long-term rentals. Who is going to make up the financial shortfall? Owners don’t want to be landlords, they will sell, and those will sell at market rate not some discounted price.
The prop of short-term rental income is what’s driving home prices higher. Once you remove that, the “market rate” for housing is a Lot lower. Also note that AirBnB has never been through a recession, so once that hits, this problem will likely correct itself through defaults and foreclosures.
This has not happened in other resort and visitor-centric communities with a significant amount of short-term rentals. In those communities, when short-term rentals were banned, property values went down temporarily by an average of 1-3%, which was quickly erased the following year due to inflation.
The slight reduction in prices was hardly “a lot lower”. Eager, hopeful buyers-to-be in those areas were a bit disappointed.
Uh, the news begs to differ: ktla.com/news/california/palm-springs-home-values-in-free-fall-after-city-cracks-down-on-airbnb/
As I said elsewhere in this thread, it depends when and what you read. Palms Springs real estate bounced back this year:
redfin.com/city/14315/CA/Palm-Springs/housing-market