Maui Commission’s unanimous vote to phase out 7,000 vacation rentals aims to address the housing crisis there. But it has sparked significant backlash, dividing the community and highlighting deep-seated issues including economic fears, racism, and xenophobia.
Get Breaking Hawaii Travel News
Things like this aren’t exactly giving Maui a friendly image. I think I’ll stay away for a while.
A view from San Diego.
Our own “Island”: As of June 2024, the median price of a home in San Diego, California was $929,895, which is a 9% increase from the previous year. The median sale price per square foot is $730, which is a 9.2% increase from the previous year. San Diego’s median sale price is 123% higher than the national average, and the overall cost of living in San Diego is 43% higher than the national average.
1. You don’t “build affordable housing”. You build housing and people move up. Purpose built affordable government housing is $600K for a small condo. That is not affordable for society. That will buy 4 houses in Ohio.
2. It is supply and demand.
3. Watch California Insider on youtube. Same issues.
So a fact is a fact that’s a fact and or fact. It doesn’t matter that you’re first world country inconvenienced by being 100% sustainable. Move to America if that’s how lazy you are. Sustainability is essential not a luxury or democratic choice. Indispensable, 100% proven as possible and inevitable. So get. Move. Don’t come here with your non-sustainable, insane, irrational and not going to work with the kaws of physics or nature. Your whole me first- Im too lazy to be sustainable attitude works well Not in Hawaii. And by the way- shane on you. What kind of man is afraid of work? A 🌮. That’s who. Strive for better.
I am not sure what you mean by going back to America, Hawaii is a U.S. state, the last time I checked.
Regarding being self sustaining… that is a huge problem for Hawaii, the economy is so reliant on tourism that an economy on Hawaii would barely exist without it. I really hope Bissen and Green are working toward creating jobs outside of tourism so the Hawaiians can have more alternatives that aren’t this closely tied to tourism.
Some of what I have seen though is Green is just trying to attract tourism from other countries such as Japan and Europe, this is just shifting where tourists come from, not necessarily reducing it.
Tourism contributes ~25% to Hawaii’s annual GDP. While that’s a significant element of the economy, its not the only engine. Hawaii’s unparalleled beauty will continue to attract visitors from across the world. Our STVR annually sees about 50-50 American-other nationalities. Do you really believe that this leveling off will tank the economy? Knowing economic facts is a precursor to commenting.
Let me guess…your STVR would not be affected by the currently proposed legislation. Correct?
Unknown at this point. The bill signed by the Governor leaves STVR decisions up to the individual counties. Hawaii County is in the process of an economic impact study. My guess is that eventually any STR’s outside a resort zone will be limited to 6+ month minimum.
Just curious. What does my STR and status have to do with my original post?
And to those who quote UHERO and cast gloom and doom on the Hawaiian tourism economy…in today’s (8/10) Hawaii Tribune Herald:
“The number of tourists is expected to continue to rebound from 2019, pre-pandemic levels of more than 10 million tourists to a forecast this year of 9.8 million visitors before rising to 10.1 million in 2025, Tian (UHERO) said.
Also, would be curious as to “indirect and direct” tourism source came from and how calculated. 70% of dollars in circulation dependent on one sector? I don’t think so.
No economy can afford a big drop in a sector that represents 25% of their economy….. those are the facts
Even UHERO (lap dog for the government) admits 70% of every dollar in circulation is tied to tourism, directly or indirectly.
According to the Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB), tourism is a major industry for Maui, accounting for about 70% of every dollar generated on the island.
Ah, yes Maui. Your post implied that all of Hawaii tourism dollars accounted for 70% of income generated. Now even on Maui about the directly or indirectly? I assume you are including construction. If so, that’s a very indirect element of tourism dollars.
There is Zero doubt Bissen started this as a way to gain local political clout for a possible re-election and to turn attention away from Maui County Government who has done nothing for decades to build affordable housing. Suddenly a fire happens and they are looking for the lowest hanging fruit. Now that the word is out (“Dont come to Maui!” “Mainlanders stay home!” “We don’t want you here!”) and the economic disaster is starting to unfold (already tourism is down nearly 30% on Maui and it’s just the beginning), Bissen said at the planning commission meeting, “I didn’t mean for this to become so divisive” and again, he has no idea how divisive this is about to get. It’s going to get so much worse. Bissen will have singlehandedly turned Maui into a toxic destination that no one wants to go to. I hope local business owners and residents are saving their paychecks, the unemployment rate on Maui is about to skyrocket as tourism will continue to spiral downward. Everyone loses.
Agreed… remember Greens role in this too.
All the mindful visitor B.S. they were spewing, talking about trying to attract high value visitors, and simultaneously talking down to people from the mainland, while trying to attract people from Europe and Japan.
I can only telll you my experience over the last 20 years. We bought our condo here on Maui because I wanted to live here, but couldn’t afford to at that time. Therefor, we hired a property management co. and they found a couple for a yearly lease who were moving here for work (contractor, architect). Once I could afford staying the winter months here, we rented the unit out the rest of the year. All were long term (longer than 6 months). One worked for Office Depot, one was from Molokai for a road project, the other was pediatrician. We also had a family because he got a job at the golf course. All of them are still living here and were able to buy their own home. I am now living in my condo full time as a Realtor and property manager (same than in Washington, DC for 30 years). I recently bought another small condo as a 1031 exchange after selling one I co-owned with my ex in DC. I had multiple applications (all from people living & working here) & signed a 1 yr lease.
I have no skin in the game on this one so this is an unbiased opinion.
1. The fires were incredibly sad but to blame people for it happening is only part of the problem, the other part is on fire response which obviously needs to be addressed. We recently stayed at 3 different hotels and it was very expensive, take away competition and the hotels will get only worse. You need tourism so that 18% tax needs money going to affordable homes for locals. Your businesses don’t lose money from tourism drops and cheaper housing can be created. Don’t bite off the tourism arm that feeds you.
So let’s summarize: You elect politicians who are corrupt, (and
incompetent ), voted in by people who want someone else to
pay for their laziness, with all of these groups completely lacking in
common sense. . . . . Gee I wonder what you will get ?
Here is an idea: Try a life of being hard working, honest, and using some common sense. Not only is that productive . . . life is a lot more
satisfying.
As I responded to another post decrying Hawaii’s government, it would be interesting to know the source of your insights into what my state’s government does wrong. I could as easily point to the fact that many states on the mainland have a one-party system. The fact is that those states (Louisiana and Brett Favre come to mind) refuse to tax their citizens enough to pay for basic education, infrastructure and support for its poor, then take excess tax payments from states that contribute a net positive in payments to supplement their own tax revenue. Then, as in the Louisiana example, they use the money on scam projects. Unless you live in Hawaii and know from experience, then your “bootstraps” description would seem to apply to many poor, mostly rural states that cast a red hue.
This might shed some light on what the Hawaii government does wrong…
civilbeat.org/2023/05/the-investigation-into-public-corruption-in-hawaii-is-very-much-alive/
nytimes.com/2023/10/25/us/hawaii-bribery-maui-fires-rebuild.html
nytimes.com/2024/04/17/us/hawaii-contractors-campaign-donations.html
I don’t need to read what’s wrong here, since I live here. Like in every state, there is good and bad, but what is most important is what the people living in that state want, not some outsider.
James asked for a source, I provided it, please don’t ignore facts.
Keep in mind that to many locals you are probably still considered an outsider since you haven’t been in Hawaii for generations, and if they had it there way you would leave. Some probably consider your property ownership to be part of the housing problem.
Apparently, Eva was the only one who understood my post. I didn’t ask to be schooled on what’s wrong with Hawaii government. My point was the same as Eva’s. Before one berates another state’s efforts, it would be helpful to identify oneself by state of residence, then try a comparison with Hawaii. Many states in the U.S. are one-party-states. Many of the same states fall last or close to last in education, poverty rates and/or taking more in federal tax dollars than they contribute, while not taxing their residents enough to pay their own freight.
As Matthew so apply observed: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye.”
Hawaii is literally the embodiment of what you described for Louisiana.
HI is by far the worst run State I have ever lived. Worst schools, worst infrastructure, best at wasting money (rail), close to the worst homelessness and poverty rates.
Steve, ever live in New Mexico?
“Poorest” state in the country
Governess that at time dictates, er I mean Mandates thing.
Pastes her name all over any Sata Funded infrastructure project.
Number One in the nation in Crime
With Albuquerque being named as one of the most “dangerous” cities in the Country.
Hoping for a change in Party and direction, probably not in my lifetime though.
Law enforcement that doesn’t respond to calls for help, and the Perps know it.
Since everything is so bad in Hawaii, I assume you moved to another state?
James, why are you backtracking, you clearly asked for a source and got backed into a corner with facts that are inconvenient to your narrative.
Your comment shows that you are the outsider. One of the reasons I moved to Hawaii is because I love Hawaiians. They have never made me feel as an outsider. My best experience was with a couple from Molokai who rented my condo a few years ago. They were homeowners, but the husband had a work project near my condo and ended up signing the lease on the beach because he was coming by boat! They were so grateful and I was happy to have them. We are still in contact and I could give you many more examples of friendship between people who live here without being born here and those who were.
Eva, Of course those of us who live on island have backgrounds of all ethnicities. We are Portugese, Indian, European, Hawaiian, Mexican and mixtures of all the above. We generally treat each other with the Golden Rule as friends or in business relations. It is a warm, polite place to live. However, the Lahaina Strong people who occupied the beach and then, with dark money political contributions, testified at the state capitol against STRs, and continue to testify against STRs at the county level are xenophobic and anti-tourist. Many of them don’t even come from Maui! They have called white STR owners slaveowners to our faces (We pay excellent wages). They have told us to go back to where we came from. They don’t represent most of Maui, but are having their racist views tolerated, even encouraged by the idiotic mayor.
So sorry that you didn’t understand the idea of first removing that stake from your eye. Since your state is obviously perfect care to share?
James/Eva, this seems to have turned pretty negative, which is unfortinate.
I, like you guys have always enjoyed being around the Hawaiian people, and have always felt welcome for the over 20 years I have been visiting, whether I am camping or staying elsewhere.
The point myself and others are trying to make is that many polititians have made poor decisions and are taking advantage of the same people that we can agree are welcoming, friendly people.
These posts are not about the majority of the people that call Hawaii home, they are about poor government planning that is hurting those people, and the vocal minority that are targeting visitors online and trying to scare off tourists which further hurts many Hawaiians and creates divisiveness.
And you are correct, there are issues in many states, however as others have mentioned, this forum happens to be a place to discuss Hawaii which is the reason these discussions have been about what is happening in Hawaii.
Aloha
Who cares what other states do, or what their weaknesses are? We are talking about Hawaii here. Let’s concentrate on Hawaii’s weaknesses, and how to improve them.
To David, et. al. re: only look at Hawaiians problems without context:
I didn’t take offense personally to your attempt to isolate Hawaii’s governance. I simply proposed that those taking potshots should identify where they reside. Line up Hawaii and its governing body, then compare Hawaii’s governing issues with one’s own state.
That sounds fair enough. Otherwise it simply becomes trash Hawaii’s governance because you get a chance without providing any context from your own state of residence.
To date, none of those who take their shots are willing to identify where they reside, while I have no problem identifying where I live and taking/choosing Hawaii with the good and the bad.
I agree. I wasn’t able to reply to David’s post, but wanted to confirm that this forum is about Hawaii and it will be people in this state who are registered to vote who they decide what happens next….
Wake up and smell the coffee. I have only lived here in Hawaii for 6 years and the incompetence is mind boggling. The nepotism, irritating and the corruption, staggering.
All one has to do is shine some bright light on the state and local governments and you will see lots of bugs scattering.
So very true. Wonder how that commissioner got her job? A favor owed to daddy. Our politicians are elected by who bankrolls them. Very often they run unopposed.
I’ll ask you the same question that no one appears ready to answer. From what state did you move? Was that state a shining example of good governance?
If you’ve never lived in another state, I can see how Maui and Hawaii would seem “normal” to you. I am just beginning to wade into the morass that is Hawaii’s political system. Two giant problems come to mind: mayors have unbelievable power and influence. They appoint all the dept heads and all the commissioners who, in theory, represent the public, but they are there to do the mayor’s bidding. In other states, civil servants stay on the job and are not changed out at every election. Their jobs don’t depend on keeping a politician happy. Secondly, the council members have equal votes, but one member might represent 100x the amount of constituents as another. So we don’t have a representative democracy. Maui politics hampered by the council members representing Lanai, Molokini and East Maui, a tiny minority of the population that wields outsize influence over the more populous parts of the county. And corruption and nepotism…
The ban didn’t create these issues they are already internalized and well practiced by the people. How would you feel if some foreigners came, illegally invaded your country then proceeded to steal all the land and then you get traumatized by a fire and these tourists are drinking out of pineapples while you starve and live on the beach without. Yeah that’s what I thought.
I would be pretty frustrated, and I would want to know why the local government passed laws that allowed all of the STRs to be purchased and created in the first place.
I would also want to know why they didn’t have an emergency action plan that could have prevented or reduced the impact of what happened in Lahaina as well as why they don’t have a plan for providing affordable housing options.
The other question that I would want an answer to is why they haven’t worked to provide more jobs outside of the tourism industry that the Maui economy is so dependent on.
Sorry, Kamahana, but none of that would bother me.
I’m not the type of person who says “Those people are better off than me and I’m watching them in their mansions and fancy cars, so I hate them!!”. Just not my way. I was poor, and all my life what I did instead was try to figure out a way to better my life. On my own. Without hatred or demands of others. Sometimes I had to move thousands of miles away to have a better life. I didn’t like it, but I dealt with reality and did it.
In fact, it is not the thought of any other state, to feel “invaded” by another state. Nor did anyone during very similar fires in any other state say “Now I don’t have a house, give me your house!”
It’s just a different way of thinking here in Hawaii. And, in my opinion, it’s not a healthy way of thinking. Aloha will bring you aloha. Hate will bring you hate.
I couldn’t agree with this more or have stated it better, great post.
When we had the “Angora fire (illegal campfire) in Tahoe, we lost 254 homes in 45 minutes. Had the 45mph winds Not stopped around 8 PM and they back fired at the city limits it would have burned all the way to the Lake there was so much fuel and wooden structures ahead, we were lucky that time. It was the most devastating fire in Tahoe until the one a couple years ago. No One demanded they be given somebody else’s property, or pee and moan about it. They worked through the process to rebuild, some found they were underinsured and never rebuilt.
Are you talking about something that happened in the 1800’s and blaming it on the current problems?
It really seams like a lot of this complaining and expectation to get bailed out for everything has become cultural for some in Hawaii, it would be interesting to know how many people complaining are actually native Hawaiians.
Surprising they are not harping about reparations for something that happened in the 1800’s. I don’t agree with what happened and never knew until 2000 when I bought a couple history books while on Vacation there. It really PO’d me so I boycotted Dole prods for years.
Check this link
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernice_Pauahi_Bishop
She was truely Royal Bloodline and my friends Great-Great Aunt.
Ramayana, land is being bought up on the mainland by other countries as well, this happens all over the world. I totally understand not liking that but at some point long ago, much of all of these properties were likely owned by locals who sold them. The country lives on capitalism so locals have the right to sell and non locals have the right to buy. You can ban the rentals but that will decrease tourism. Tax your businesses, hotels and rentals more and use that money to build more affordable housing, all those businesses are making a ton of money they need to contribute more but the government also needs to use those taxes for their people and not their pockets. Wishing the best to Hawaii and working thru this, your locals do deserve better but that’s on your government and losing tourism $ is the wrong path. Think outside the box for better ideas or fixes.
You mean like Oprah and Mr Facebook Hawaii Gov welcomes them be all in with Geen
A lot of people were grateful for Oprah’s checks after the fire. She also created a fund with Dwayne Johnson to assist fire victims. May be she would contribute more if people would complain less. That’s probably why she opened schools for girls in Africa, many of whom already graduated.
Oprah & Dwayne Johnson’s, the People’s Fund for Maui is a joke. Those two barely contributed to it and had Americans and people around the world donate to help the people of Maui. They use all the donations, but both of them use it as a tax write off as they are the trustees of the foundation or fund. Two clowns trying to appear they care.
Yep… I think a lot of people don’t realize how much help they got from “mainlanders” that some like to critisize so much, I can just about guarantee that Maui got more donations from regular hard working people from the mainland than most disaster survivors of hurricanes and fires on the mainland get, this is largely due to how much people like Hawaii and Hawaiians.
It was extremely disheartening to see Green/Bissen/Lahaina Strong critisizing and belittling the same people (using the genralization of mainlanders) that were helping them on TV and in news articles for months following and to this day.
Additionally, I would be willing to be that most of us that donated, donated annoymously and don’t expect any recognition.
If $10Mio is insignificant, I wonder how much you contributed ….in addition, over 8000 fire victims receive $1200 in their bank account for 6 months, no questions asked. In all, they raised $60Mio for this fund….by the way, if you ever made any donation, you know they are tax deductible (up to a certain amount).
Still no overall response for a broader plan to build affordable housing. The county’s focus is just to take existing STR units for LT housing regardless of the consequences to the cure owners. It’s the pretext for private property being forcibly taken despite longstanding laws and precedent.
I’ve not read what price point would be considered affordable housing for locals on Maui and how many can actually qualify for a mortgage.
Do they think that if prices fall there’s not a new group of out of state buyers waiting to snatch these STR’s long before they reach affordable status for a local.
This will do little to solve the affordable housing issue on Maui and quite possibly plunge their economy into a prolonged slump.
Aloha. I am for the vacation rental ban. I work as a property manager for a High End Luxury condo association that does not allow short term vacation rental and it is the right thing to do. I have worked for associations that allow the short term
Rental and the owners of those units are just in it to make as much money as they can and do. Or care about the common areas or the other people that live full time in the units. I totally agree with this ban and get this units into 6 month leases or 12 month leases designed for working people who want to live here
Craig, how exactly are your high end luxury condos helping the locals that cannot afford those condos anyway? You’re not any better than the hotels or short term rentals in helping the locals
Craig, I suspect the reason the high end condos require a 6 or 12 month lease is not to benefit the locals, but rather to protect the other property owners in the high end condos from having their neighbor turn it into an STR.
Out of curiosity though, how many locals are renting the high end luxury condos where you work? Or is it mostly retirees or people from other states or countries that want to spend 6 months in Hawaii?
If you want to blame anyone for high rents in Maui, blame FEMA. I have a friend who said she moved to Colorado because FEMA is paying her $12k a month for her 3BR townhouse on the West side of Maui.
Wow… that is interesting, I am not sure what she pays for her condo a month, but this also opens up an opportunity to give money back to struggling people in Maui if she is paying only a few thousand a month in Colorado.
So are you saying that since she’s getting 12K and perhaps only paying 5K that she should give her tenants 7K for free? So free rent + 7K a month?
What a blow-out deal for the tenants! However, I bet the owner will just be “greedy” and keep the difference.
FEMA doesn’t allow you to have any connection with the tenants. In fact, you cannot choose or meet your tenants when you sign up with FEMA which is one of the reasons I didn’t go with the program. In addition, we don’t know what happens when the program runs out or when the tenants leave ….I would save my money until that happens.
I don’t know what her mortgage payment is and frankly, that is none of my (our your) business.
Eva, my comments were to David, in response to his thought that any profits from renting through FEMA could be fed back to the displaced. The numbers I used were hypothetical.
We tried to provide our condo to FEMA to house a local family in need in order to help, but FEMA would only work with the property management companies & not one offs. We can’t afford a property manager as we manage ourselves. FEMA rejected us and stated they only use property management companies with 20 or more units. Unbelievable.
Yes, Patrick, and it’s absolutely infuriating that the recent UHERO report that the government on Maui is relying on states that only a very small percentage of STR owners rented their units out to the displaced.
UHERO is clearly not counting all of the STR owners that either tried and weren’t accepted, or were accepted and their places stayed empty with no takers. It really skewed the numbers and made STR owners look like the “bad guy” once again.
Short term vacation rentals need to be banned from all areas zoned residential or ag throughout the entire State of Hawaii. These areas were not zoned for speculative mini-hotels.
STR’s should only be located in areas zoned Resort.
They are in apartment zoning because in the 1970s and 1980s when they were built, there was no such thing as resort zoning. Apartment zoning then allowed str, owner-occupied, or long-term rental – owner’s choice. The right couldn’t be revoked in 1989 when Maui changed apartment zoning to long-term only, going forward, and it can’t be revoked now.
Looks like hawaiian s don’t want people from other states visiting
A minority of locals claiming to be kanaka are advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government from Maui. They call Governor Green a “colonist” for being white. Most locals appreciate and welcome tourists, so they have a paycheck. Lahaina Strong is criticized by many locals, but they are brazen because they’re supported by our idiot mayor.