Today Green confirmed plans for reducing Hawaii vacation rentals, and increasing visitor fees.
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192 thoughts on “Governor Confirms Maui Rental Moratorium, New $25 Tourist Fee, + Increase In Accommodation Tax Possible”
I’ve been seeing locals on Lahaona commenting that they still have to pay on mortgages om properties totally destroyed and insurance adjusters are not allowed to assess properties so that claims can be paid. Sounds like a catch 22 for residents of Lahaina.
Return land to locals. Not sure how that happens. There are lots of us in other resort towns that would like the same thing but it’s not feasible in a free market -sounds like politics
And what about all the locals that had to leave due to not being able to afford purchasing a house?
Maui has the same issues as most high end communities but are amplified because Maui is an island. So many issues to a very complex problem. HI’s government caused/allowed the problem and I have no faith that they will be the solution. We love Maui but feel HI’s mismanagement is ruining the island for everyone.
One factor preventing long term rental is the moratorium on eviction.
Since there is no construction of new homes in sight, it is unlikely for the long term tenants to find a permanent home at the end of their two year lease, hence the eviction moratorium is a major threat
Hawaii will have a 2 tiered society??
No Gov. Green, the question is will we have a 2 tiered Govt. One that believes in private property rights or an authoritarian government that does not. And that’s up to You Gov. Green. We’re watching.
I, along with many are tired of the partial reveal of what the govenor wants…Its like a game. Say the plan not the thoughts running through your head
Finish up the fine print and tell us what is happening. Sell back to locals? What does that mean?
I called and left a message for the governor after reading yesterdays Beat of Hawaii. Voice mail of course. I emailed them a few weeks back and got a nothing type reply, as in Nothing of substance to my question.
Owners won’t participate if we don’t have all the facts and so far I hear lots of “ideas” but nothing I would step up to and commit to since the Governor has not been very clear in what he is saying. How can any owner make such a big decision on bits and pieces of a plan?
Yeah the Gov went to med school not b-school. Of course str’s charge 4x more than a local could pay, they have to because owners paid 4x more for the property and subsequently have to pay for a higher mortgage, taxes and hoa fees. If the Gov wants this to happen he should speaking to banks to lower mortgage payments to strs to meet the economics for the lower rent revenue. After years of collecting the highest tax rates for str occupancy, affordable housing was never addressed with the money collected. It’s not that simple.
Green and his enablers in the legislature are pushing the problem to anywhere but themselves. Why? Because they can. They have no plan for this $68M, just labels. Just grab the money from those who don’t vote and we’ll figure out later how to squander it. Consider that it’s the same “leadership” that put on display for the whole world the unbelievable void of competence in preparing for and dealing with the Maui tragedy.
It is a shame that Hawaii doesn’t want visitors anymore. They will still have them but they will only be the wealthiest low percentage. In the meantime, ì always enjoyed my budget-minded visits to Ohau (can’t afford accommodations on any of the other islands), taking public transportation and walking all over the city. I don’t feel wanted and welcomed anymore in Hawaii that message is loud and clear. Fortunately there are choices. Many of them.
The $15 per hour parking fees in downtown Kona, plus tax, near the food market is ridiculous. Over $23 Cdn for 15 minutes parking scares us away from vacationing on the big Island any longer. The parking software is hard to use unless you have a cellular phone with a data plan.
I visited Hawaii as a child, and have been trying to get back ever since. But I don’t want to stress people who have been displaced. I don’t want to contribute to the problems of locals, and I don’t want to be seen as partying when others are trying to recover. I am fully on board with visitor taxes. If one can afford to visit Hawaii, another 50 bucks or so is not going to break the bank. I was all set to visit this winter, but I have decided to wait a year. Perhaps Hawaii needs to increase the minimum wage, or subsidies housing. The locals deserve to be able to afford their homeland. Perhaps rental property owners should be required to make a percentage of their properties long-term rentals?
The Governor wants to see an increase in tourist revenue at the same time he wants to increase fees which are already too high and driving tourists.
He wants to get rid of short term rentals but there are not enough hotel rooms to make up the difference nor can most people afford hotel rooms as they are the most expensive in the USA. So you will get less visitors coming and less economic activity.
You can’t have it both ways Governor. Either you go after short term rentals and kill the economy or maintain the short term rentals and at least people have jobs. Figure out the housing problem a different way. Going after short term rentals is a simple solution and probably plays well for re-election but does not solve the problem.
Owning 20 short term rentals on Maui should be a crime.
I will never go back!
The Most Ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. Greene is trying to Kill Tourism in Hawaii which feeds and employs Most of Hawaii Residents. From cleaners to maintenance and the list goes on.
Tax and more tax governor
According to Hawaii Public Radio, there are anywhere from 21,000 to 45,000 illegals in Hawaii.
How many are taking up housing and jobs from legal citizens of the USA living on Maui whom lost their homes and jobs from the fires?
I was in Maui October of 2023 and was listening to public radio. They advertised money grants for illegal non
USA citizens from the fires.
Obviously, Maui is putting illegal non citizens first infront of their own state residents. And now charging legal tourists $25 to come to their states.
What is going on there?
Sadly that is happening all over the US, not just Hawaii. In some cities they are asking legal residences to take them into their own homes. Voting is not an option this year
I’ve enjoyed my visits to Hawaii over the past 35 years, but with the present political climate there, I’m done. The Caribbean and Mexico are much more accommodating and welcoming not to mention a lot less expensive. Good luck and you will need it with your present leaders in the State.
Why are they not forcing hotels to give up 10% of the rooms?
No kitchens and the hotels don’t want to continue providing food for the displaced despite being compensated for it.
If you are transplant, native of Hawaii resident take a long look in the mirror. Stop blaming the tourist!!! You voted in these so called leaders, and look what they have done for you so far. Like the line in the Field of Dreams ” build it and they will come”. Well they built the resorts and the tourists came. The resorts could have been built without state and local permits. Love that Zippys built a restaurant in Vegas. Maybe they see the writing on the wall and expanded to the mainland. 🙂
Why not use hotels for the Maui fire displaced residents ?
Because hotels employ thousands and are great for the economy. Short term rentals do not and suffocate the economy. No one can afford to live here anymore. The hotels have to charge crazy prices because they have to pay their employees crazy wages to afford their crazy rents. Meanwhile all of this wealth is being transfered elsewhere.
The reason there is a shortage of houses on Maui is because the county employees who are involved in issuing new building permits have been trained by people further up the chain of command to deny, obfuscate, complicate and refuse to assist anyone and everyone with the means to attempt the process of building or remodeling. Add to that the fact that even with an irrigation system that delivered more fresh water per day to the sugar cane fields than new York city consumes, the people in charge at the county have pretended for more than 20 years that Maui has a water shortage. And because of the alleged water shortage have refused to issue new water meters to meet the demand. It’s all lies.
It would be irresponsible to continue down the path of Hawaii for tourists and off island investors instead of residents.
With the advent of working from home there should be offices for temporary use to encourage a new type of workforce that doesn’t depend on tourism.
Where does all this leave those of us who have made reservations? We are planning our 30 year anniversary! We have already paid for our condo,our airfare,our car rental!!! Now the governor can’t make up his mind on short term rentals! We are suppose to arrive on March 4,are we gonna have a place to stay?? This trip has been in the planning stages for over a year!!
FYI
Palm Springs capped Airbnb rentals. Now some home prices are in free-fall
msn.com/en-us/money/realestate/palm-springs-capped-airbnb-rentals-now-some-home-prices-are-in-free-fall/ar-BB1h7Hme
Have always loved visiting Hawaii. We had a trip planned before the fires happened and are still going through with it-very mixed feelings. Feels like they don’t want people like us to visit Maui anymore so we will see how it goes. Maui will always be special to me but there are other places.
I understand the need to convert short-term rentals to long-term for the those impacted by the fire. I totally support that! You have got to take care of the residents!! The governor keeps increasing fees to visit the state, last week it was $50 – this week tax increases to 18%. When you couple that with $50 resort fee and $75 for parking (both are per day) in Honolulu or a $45 resort fee and $45 for parking (again, per day) in Hawaii (Big Island) – it’s becoming clear, you only want the extremely rich to come to the state. My wife and I have come to Hawaii for 40 years. We have volunteered to help those in need while we were there. During the last few trips, we have departed feeling unwelcome. Our trips are about to end!!
So Hawaii intends to add more
tax to their already tax full coffers. Maybe if they took care of some of their decaying slum like pu lic facilities , then I would gladly pay this increase.
The amount of tax money the State gets each day from room tax is absolutely enormous.
Tax increases will push people away and have them go else where . Hawaii is quickly becoming a play ground for the elite like Mark Z and Ophra W.
We 3 have stayed at the Royal Lahiana 6 times since 2003. We love the Hawaiians. They work diligently so we can enjoy our stays. They, along with the islands themselves, need to be respected. May God continue to bless them, as we do when there by giving them rides when seen walking to work or when their car broke down. More caring & love needs to be spread everywhere in this world & never taken for granted. But with rising inflation, it would be helpful if people in their 70’s could get reduced flights & stays also as we do not see ourselves being able to afford to ever come to Maui again. Love to Hawaiians & Maui!!! Thank you for your blessings to us in the past & we were so devastated by your losses even more!!!! We pray you can rebuild!
it’s all about land grabbing and politicians lining their pockets, none of it will go to native hawaiians or the islands, never has never will. let only the owners of the rentals decide what they want to do. also Hawaiians don’t sell your property and then complain, no one forced anyone to sell.
Where was the help/support before the fires for the Natives?why are you not taking from the rich who own homes/land? is this is just a ploy to get the natives off their lands so the gov can take their natives homes/land from them and sell it to the rich. taking vacation homes is not the answer and the gov has no right to take from them. Build new homes for those Natives on Their land asap who lost theirs and the insurance are refusing to cover or the insurance companies lost the natives paperwork. Green has plenty of money to do so if he wanted. what next? arrest the natives who know better and refuse to leave their properties cause they know it will happen?
So sad what is happening in Hawaii. We have loved vacationing there for years and will miss it. Sadly, we don’t feel welcome there anymore.
There many vacant buildings on island. Why are we not renovating these buildings/factories to make apartments for those that can do apartment living. Make them affordable and there would be lots of folks that are living 2-4 people in a house to make rent that could live in these and free up houses for family’s that need more space and have kids. We could house more quickly with existing buildings. Then land is not being taken up and can remain nature and not bring more debri to the island for new builds as well. There is funny math that has been going on since the fires where are the millions raised why aren’t we using this to fund housing creation? Why are our locals living on beaches
This is good, vacation rentals are out of control! Wild that 52% of short term rental owners don’t even live in Hawaii.. all of that rental income getting sent back to who knows where. Time to take the houses back. No houses = no workers = no economy.
Can we do this on Kauai also?
I agree it’s our of control with 52% living off island and worse, 27% own 20 or more. Maybe instead of taxing visitors, tax owners a higher rate that have more than one vacation rental . This may push them to sell the excess to permanent residences. Then give a tax break to owners who live permanently for 5 or more years.
Most short term rentals were not designed to be lived in long term. There is very little storage and very little parking, and in general a smaller living area. Also, most short term rentals are near the beach and are to expensive for most to afford. Converting short term rentals is not the answer to the problem. The answer lies in getting the state government to plan and quickly approve the building of residential condos and houses in areas that are affordable. It can be done, you just need to make them do it. Don’t forget the government works for you the people of the state!
There is a lot of frustration with mainland / foreign ownership. I think this may be misdirected. A lot of retirement aged folks have saved for decades to have a vacation home which they rent the rest of the year. Your ire at grandma and grandpa in New York is probably not the right place.
What has transformed the face of short term rentals to be predatory is corporate ownership and wealthy hedge funds getting into the market as an investment vehicle.
What is Vacasa doing to contribute? Are they willing to give up a few short term rentals? Of course not because it’s corporate or shareholder profit for them.
I get the message, visit one of other islands to avoid pricing penalties.
Hawaii will be pricing ourselves out of tourist travel. Then where will the economy be?
As far as the short term vacation rentals I have to agree along as they have a full kitchen etc. Full time rental, guarantee rental income and lower property tax.
What I don’t get is spending money on fire breaks. Land owners are responsible. Pass an ordnance making it maditory to maintain your property
I agree with you Jay. Homeowners should be responsible for putting up firebreaks for their houses.
One decides to live somewhere and build a home, one should build it to suit the elements in that environment.
That is done everywhere across the world.
Just keep squeezing the money out of the tourists and sooner or later there won’t be any coming to Hawaii…apparently that is the goal here.
Will Maui focus on AirBNB/VRBO and rental units that had initially been approved and built as long term properties and subsequently were Allowed by Maui’s Government to revert to short term rentals? Maui’s Government needs to recognize their role in helping to create this problem.
Absolutely. And there are reportedly several Thousand illegal short-term rentals on Maui, openly advertised, without permits and not paying any transient vacation rental taxes. Why not start there, and with making it eaiser and faster to build more housing?
Governor should not allow non native Hawaiians to buy houses instead of constantly trying to nickel and dime tourists to raise money.
So housing purchases based on race? I think the 14th Amendment and the Equal PRotection Clause might have something to say about that. Its unconstitutional, period.
I do not believe US law allows for discriminating in that way. If it did, California would be much less overcrowded.
It sounds like corporations may be invovled when over 25% own over 20 homes. Maybe they own a thousand who knows.
These proposed increases combined with grocery and restaurants increases will keep a lot of people including myself from coming back. As much as enjoy Maui I can stay an extra week to 10 days in Mexico or Belize.
A $25 fee when they arrive and check into a hotel or short-term rental. This modest fee is far less than other fees.” He said that would immediately generate $68 million in annual revenue. “We’ll invest it for beach preservation, fire breaks, and other measures,” said Green.
Why not use this money to build long term housing?
That is the problem right?
So people are homeless because of the fire, so help them. Don’t burden other people and take their income away, that is just making a bigger problem that now affects even more people. It was not the fault of the tourists but you are going to add another fee for them and not put the money generated to the problem of housing. So now less tourists will come and businesses will fail.
When FL, LA etc were hit by the storms, flooding etc and all the houses were destroyed the Govt didn’t come in and tax all the future tourists to death so they could rebuild everything. If there isn’t a place to live then what are you waiting for, get your insurance check and find a place, which may not be on Maui, to live. I’m not trying to be insensitive but at some point life has to go on, kids, families etc need structure and it is the Government’s sole responsibility to completely house everyone. Lahaina area is not going to be built up for years.
How about the State set up a dashboard that shows where all of the tax that is collected from vacation owners actually goes? Unfortunately, there’s a significant lack of transparency, and as we know there’s always going to be some level of bureaucratic waste/misuse. Yes, I realize increasing the sales tax would be the third rail for a politician, but let’s be realistic. 4% is ridiculously low in a modern society that is wanting to make significant cultural improvements.
bureaucratic waste/misuse
Respect the culture
We have a trip planned for Maui in April. I think it’s time to cancel and go to Mexico instead. Went to Mexico during Covid, liked it, returned twice and now though we would returned to Maui. Cost is certainly at less 50 to 75% higher than previouly (there is a limit of spend to value) and worse is we are really feeling like we are not welcome in Maui.