Maui’s plan to eliminate thousands of vacation rentals is already collapsing, and nobody knows what comes next. The bold housing promise that followed the recent year’s fires has softened into a maze of carveouts, new hotel zones, and rezoning proposals that will likely satisfy almost no one. What began as moral clarity and urgency is ending in confusion.
One longtime visitor who has rented the same Kihei condo for fifteen years said she now feels like she is booking into “a legal minefield.” Another wrote, “We supported Maui after the fires. Now we’re being told we’re part of the problem.” These voices echo across hundreds of similar comments from people who once called Maui their second home.
What’s changing and why it matters.
When Mayor Richard Bissen introduced Bill 9 last year, the goal was sweeping. The measure would phase out more than 7,000 apartment-zoned vacation rentals that had operated for decades under an old exemption. The idea was to convert those units into long-term housing and rebalance the island’s dependence on tourism.
A county investigative panel has flipped the script entirely. Instead of banning rentals, the group now wants to create two new hotel zones and move roughly 50 properties, about 4,000 units, into those categories, letting them operate indefinitely as vacation rentals. That’s nearly half of the 7,000 units targeted initially.
This would allow them to keep operating as vacation rentals even after Bill 9 becomes law. The rest of the properties would, in theory, convert to long-term housing, but nobody can explain how or when that would happen at this point.
For owners, this proposal feels like a lifeline. For many residents, it feels like betrayal. The housing crisis that sparked this law has not eased, and county leadership now appears to be retreating from its own solution long before it even begins.
What visitors are seeing now.
Many longtime Maui travelers say they no longer know whether their condo will even be a legal one after this. One couple who has visited every winter since 1998 said their last trip felt “transactional, like we were tolerated, not welcomed.” Another frequent visitor wrote that checking into their usual rental now feels like trespassing.
These comments are not isolated. They reflect a growing unease among travelers who once viewed Maui as their most reliable escape. The confusion over the future of Maui vacation rentals has only made that worse.
The shift is also visible on the ground. Visitors talk about rising fees, new parking rules, and subtle signs of fatigue among hotel and restaurant workers. One guest who stayed in West Maui this summer said, “The aloha spirit isn’t gone, but it’s harder to find.” That sense of uncertainty is starting to reshape travel patterns across the islands, with some guests saying they are exploring Kauai or the Big Island instead.
A crisis without direction.
The debate over vacation rentals has exposed Maui’s deepest divide. On one side are those who believe tourism remains the island’s only true economic engine. On the other side, some residents believe it is the same engine that broke the island in the first place. Neither side has a plan to replace what’s being lost.
The Lahaina and Kula fires displaced thousands of people, and many are still waiting for permanent housing. The idea that small condos with high fees and limited parking could absorb families of four was never realistic. Yet leaders kept repeating that narrative until it collapsed under its own weight.
As one resident wrote, “The county has been absent for thirty years. They have worked against affordable housing in every way possible.”
One longtime visitor who has stayed in the same complex for twenty years wrote, “I’ve watched Maui try to fix this for decades. Every time, they choose the money.” That frustration captures what many see as the real story behind Bill 9’s slow unraveling.
The economics behind the retreat.
Vacation rentals generate millions each month in county taxes and support thousands of hospitality jobs. Yet one condo owner testified that eliminating them will not create affordable housing, only shift those units to wealthy cash buyers who will live in them part-time and pay lower resident tax rates. The policy may end up solving nothing and still costing everything.
Tourism fatigue, however, is just as real. Residents point to crowded beaches, clogged roads, and the growing sense that Maui has become unaffordable even for the people who call it home. What was supposed to be a reset after the fires has instead turned into another round of political stalemate.
The irony is impossible to miss. The same county that couldn’t build affordable housing for decades now claims it can rezone thousands of units in under five years, a timeline that would outlast the current council and possibly the current mayor. Even if the plan works on paper, it may not exist in practice.
A message that keeps shifting.
Maui’s leaders say the goal is still to protect housing for locals, but the new proposals sound more like a zoning reshuffle than a real housing plan. The Temporary Investigative Group’s carveouts would rename thousands of units rather than transform them. For now, uncertainty rules, and both residents and visitors are tired of guessing what comes next.
In earlier coverage, Maui Vacation Rental Ban Collides With New Hotels pointed out the contradiction of restricting condos while approving new luxury developments nearby. That contradiction has only grown louder. The temporary relief for many rental owners may steady one corner of the market. Still, it reinforces what both visitors and residents are saying: Maui’s leaders will bend almost any policy before risking tourism revenue.
What this means for travelers booking now.
Anyone with a future Maui condo reservation is obviously concerned, although in reality nothing will change in the next few years. The units carved out as “hotel zones” won’t even be decided until next year at the earliest, and even then, property-by-property rezoning could take years to resolve. That leaves travelers booking blindly, owners unable to commit, and Maui’s reputation as a reliable destination continuing to erode.
Council review coming in November.
Any real change now seems sure to take years. Rezoning thousands of units one by one could stretch well beyond the current council term. The delay alone is enough to keep investors waiting and visitors wondering.
Hawaii cannot ban its way to affordability, and it cannot build its way out of grief. This latest compromise may be politically convenient, but it is poised to satisfy no one. Residents see another promise diluted. Visitors see another sign that the island is drifting.
Maui’s vacation rental crackdown may be softening, but so is confidence in what the island stands for. The danger now is not just losing short-term rentals. It is losing direction altogether.
What’s your take on this latest turn? We’d like to hear from you in the comments below.
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This is what happens when you have a MIA Mayor.
Resign Mayor Bissen.
Find somebody that has insight, not out of sight during catastrophes, whether they’re natural or self created political fires.
Ok first, I want to address anyone who commented about “we dont like the way we’re treated”/”we will take our money elsewhere”/”what have 6 generations of locals provided”🙉 i just wanna say, that is completely ignorant, flippant, distasteful and disrespectful. Hawaiians Own The Land. As it was taken from them, the least that can be done, is to prioritize homes for them. These people are suffering. I am on kauai and do not pay too much attention to what is going on politically, but I know how corrupt our government is. Wasn’t gov. Josh Green planning to make the first “smart city” there? Kind of convenient how it all burned down, and so quickly too, eh? Lmao “controlled brushfire” I hope that was sarcastic or at least a terrible, misplaced joke. Hawaii is about Aloha, respect, kuleana, earning your place. How do you expect the locals to receive visitors happily when their basic needs aren’t even being met? 🤔
When you talk about Kuleana, aren’t you talking about responsibility? Who’s responsibility was it to make sure the town of Lahaina did not burn down?
In 2018 there was a similar fire that was put out. There was an after action report that gave many recommendations to prevent the very thing that happened in 2023. How many of those recommendations were put into action? Absolutely Zero.
Who’s responsibility was it it to make sure fire hydrants would not run dry because the pump got burned?
Who’s responsibility was it to make sure we have adequate emergency communications?
Who’s responsibility was it to activate the emergency siren for evacuation?
All we have to do is hold people accountable for not doing their jobs and find those with expertise and the will to make hard decisions.
Josh Green had nothing to do with this fire. All of us Mauians, only need to look in the mirror to find the culprit. Ineptitude prevails.
The same is true for this housing crisis.
As per Mayor Bissen, the real problem is lack of water and sanitary sewer infrastructure. Let’s take him at his word. I sent a city council representative a conceptual preliminary plan for desalination. The council person sent me a response asking me to get in touch with County of Maui’s Department of Water Supply. I left a message, and I have not heard back.
And you won’t because the head of that department just got a 30 percent raise (as all department heads did as well as members of the council and the mayor) and doesn’t have to report to the public. There is literally no accountability going on in Maui with the current council and mayor. The two top liquor control people make $350k combined and yet it takes 9 months or more to get a liquor license. I was there in February and a long time restaurant on Maui, Miso Phat, is moving into the Maui Coast hotel. Even though they are a long running establishment on Maui, they don’t even get a hearing until November. On the mainland liquor licenses take a couple of months at most. Building permits for homeowners devastated by the Lahaina fires are being slow walked over two years later. It’s a disgrace what is happening to the people on Maui by their government.
“The bold housing promise that followed the recent year’s fires has softened into a maze of carveouts, new hotel zones, and rezoning proposals that will likely satisfy almost no one. What began as moral clarity and urgency is ending in confusion.”
Good thing I was sitting down when I read this.
I spent eight years in Hawai’i watching all the anti-haole and anti-tourism videos posted by locals. It worked on me and plenty like me, and now all those videos are doing exactly what the people who posted them wanted them to do. Big Island is no better. Say it, forget it. Post it, regret it. You can’t throw rocks at a dog and expect it to keep coming back.
these condos are old and need continuous maintenance. Fees for maintenance (equivalent to HOA dues) would be very high. These units are not built for multi-member families. Parking alone (see cars parked in yards in Kahului ) would be prohibitive.
The fires in Maui were Completely avoidable just like those in California and Canada. Leftist however have a tendency to freak out about controlled burns. Forests have burnt down for millions of years and before Europeans arrived in North America everywhere looked like the Midwest. Large about plains with small patches of trees. Like usual bad governance is the route of Hawaii’s problems yet the refuse to vote differently.
I would be extremely surprised if anyone except the Mayor is surprised that his Bill #9 became even more confusing with the back tracking and carve outs.
This Bill #9 is another prime example of the total lack of business sense in in the State of Hawaii leadership.
The changes also give people the feeling there was some under the table bargaining too.
Please elect leaders with a good track record of business success in past employment to help diversify and stabilize Maui’s and other Islands economy.
The Hotel association wins again, with $1000/night hotels. Corruption seems likely, dont you think
We’ve been coming to Maui multiple times a year since the early ’80’s. Hawaii is no longer a secret. What amazes us, and deeply disheartens us is the multiple ways the State has found to alienate your only industry – hospitality! The one party government is big on intentions, and low on results – and that’s not confined to Maui. Hard to comprehend that 2,200 structures were destroyed in the Lahaina fire, yet 2 years later fewer than 500 building permits have been issued. Several clever ideas on how to accelerate that have been crushed. We have found other places to spend our vacation dollars, and they aren’t in Hawaii. They say you get the government you deserve – that’s sure the case in Hawaii. Turning high dollar, one-bedroom, purpose-built condo’s into long-term “affordable” homes is folly! Raising taxes only on visitors that fuel your economy is also short-sighted and stupid! There are solutions, focus on results, not intentions!
Sorry to be a nitpicker, but “last year’s fires”, that you referred to in your article, actually occurred in August, 2023, not in 2024.
The solution is simple but yet so hard for the current political leadership. Build more affordable housing, lots of it. Absolutely commit to by passing legislation that encourages it with tax breaks, incentives and where appropriate zone changes. Sadly if this was committed to today, it would still take time, but it is the only logical solution.
The County council had that chance last week. Three of its members voted against it. Yes, voted No to building affordable housing for residents. They were the usual suspects (Yuki, Lee and Cook) who have been prodevelopment their entire career. Funny thing is on their recent campaign messages, they said they are all for building affordable housing.
I think the TIG’s recommendation is a solid one. By moving properties of small condos off the list, it will allow the Mayor and Council to focus on properties that can truly accommodate families of four or more. As you stated, “The idea that small condos with high fees and limited parking could absorb families of four was never realistic.”
Regarding rentals for 2026, they are not in limbo and saying so gives readers more worry than necessary. The back half of your sentence accurately says, “although in reality nothing will change in the next few years.” My understanding is that rentals for 2026 and even 2027 will not be impacted in the resort areas. Even if Bill 9 goes through as originally drafted, it will most likely not affect any STRs until 2028.
This is just a microcosm of a systemic issue of Big money (Hotels; Developers; etc) who want to destroy Airbnb rentals so they can monopolize the industry and buying off politicians who fatten their pockets while in office, all the while the poor and disadvantaged are left with no solutions.
I’m certainly glad we stay on Kauai. We’ve been to Maui a few times, but it’s been 18 years and that’s enough. This next trip will be for 4 weeks and will be our 32nd visit to Hawaii. Please keep this nonsense away from Kauai!
This is not about the left or the right. Everyone on Maui was affected by the fire no matter how it started or weather you lost your home or not. It’s about the Governments action for the people. From the Governor down
don’t know what to do.
The main problem is the past administrations have never done anything regarding low income housing and affordable housing. The county counsel and the Mayor think by eliminating short term rentals it will solve the problem, wrong as the amount of taxes which is generated by them would be cut in half and who is going to make up the difference. Then there are all the small business which depend on the tourist for there live-hood, not to mention the restaurants who depend on the tourist as well, then there are all the people that do maintenance on the condos and the cleaning people as well. Case in point we pay over $9000.00 a year in taxes to the county, mutably by the number of short term rentals which is about $126,000,000.
BOH, you said “Anyone with a Maui condo reservation for 2026 is now in limbo”. This is patently untrue.
The current Bill 9, disregarding any TIG carve-outs, would not go into effect until 2029 for West Maui and 2031 for South Maui. This is straight out of the Mayor’s current version of Bill 9.
I’ve stated this several times, and yet you continue to introduce instability and insecurity for guests booking condos for 2026. People booking for 2026, 2027, and 2028 are safe from this legislation. 2029 and 2030 as well for South Maui.
We are already experiencing businesses starting to fail because of the drop in tourism due to confusion over this legislation. Please don’t make things worse.
First take a look at who owns these rentals. Do they go 6 generations back to Hawaiians? Or is it a multi millionaire commoditizing and sending its revenues back to the mainland? Great that a multi millionaire can make money, but the taxes doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what Maui residents can work with. So think of how squeezing tons of millionaire owners into one area while profiting off of themselves, truly truly helps the 6 generation locals?
There many short terms units owned by families for 40, 50, and 60 years. They may live over than Maui but have contributed much for many years. Many 6 generation residents still contribute nothing, wake up.
You are 100 percent correct. The drop in tourism has been a direct result of the negative publicity about the fires and about Bill 9.
I don’t believe that the tourists are the engine that created the housing crisis. Another investigation study is another waste of money leading to indecisive ideas that accomplish nothing as we see what has been going on now since the fire. I am beginning to think Maui Is heading into a Disneyland island where the Disney cruise ship can remake it their own. What a novel idea.
2026 reservations are not in limbo. That is an important clarification.
A committee of Council has recommended rezoning of many complexes on the Mayor’s list to new zone districts, H-3 and H-4, which will allow STRs. A list of those exempted properties is now on the street, and they are many of your favorite tourist properties.
I accept that certain short term rental properties can be converted to work force housing, but the Committee’s recommendations continue to fall short. Such conversions by zoning amendment to nonconforming will fail to legal challenge without at least a 5 to 10 year amortization, i.e., delay. So don’t cancel your reservations!
The Committee’s recommendations are a significant positive step, however.
Realistically, the only way short term rentals will be converted to work force housing is if the State or County buys them.
“Hawaii cannot ban its way to affordability, and it cannot build its way out of grief.” This is a brilliant summary of the situation.
There’s a couple points that the article misses. First, the need for housing was sparked quite literally by the Lahiana fires. In over two years, there has been scant progress on getting homes rebuilt in Lahaina. Partly because of the lack of construction workers and materials in Maui but also by the County’s slow walking of building permits. This is causing people to give up on rebuilding, leaving Maui, and selling their lots to a so-called land trust owned by who knows?
The other point is that many people have been placed in financial distress by the County’s terrible management of the post fire PR when they were telling people to stay away from the island despite the fact that huge parts of Maui were open and waiting for people to come (Kihei, Wailea, Hana, etc.). Then Bill 9 happened and it caused STR owners to see their values collapse by some 40%. Many people were forced to sell because of the two year recession in visitors and they have eaten that price collapse.
Two points:
1.) Follow and publish where all of the tourist money has gone over the last 10 years to zero in on a core issue.
2.) Residents need to come to grips with who they keep voting for. Not just the individual but the “ideology” that is consistent with the problems that never get fixed.
I plan on traveling to Maui next November 2026. I’ll be keeping an eye on overreaching fees everywhere and the kind of service I receive while on the island. This will largely determine if I choose Maui and quite possibly Hawaii for my future vacation plans.
I booked one of our regular Maui condos and will continue to do so. Because we stay in condos, shop at the grocery and try to be low key, thoughtful tourists we aren’t feeling a lot of the negativity. I feel empathy for locals and especially native Hawaiians. However, I will continue to visit and try to direct my dollars to local owned places. I’m not abandoning Maui. The expense has shortened our Maui time and we are adding Oahu now to our vacations.
What about cracking down on the illegal short term rentals? Why are they not pursuing this? Illegal str’s in residential neighborhoods have been going on for decades. The council does not mention any progress or statistics on cleaning up the illegal strs. Instead they are trying to eliminate the legal strs that have been paying taxes and generating income for the county, state, and local businesses for years.
Too little, too late. My wife and I canceled our annual 2.5 month Maui escape from the Pacific NW winter rains, in favor of Asia in Feb 2026. The level of incompetence and bungling by the local government is shocking. Avoiding quick fix, knee jerk reactions to the housing problem isn’t rocket science. There are ways to satisfy all stakeholders without draconian rental bans….they just need competent urban planners with no political or anti-tourist agenda, private investment, government funding /support and removal of artificial zoning obstructions. Trying to force fit affordable family accommodation into purpose built, high cost / maintenance small vacation rentals doesn’t make sense, even if expedient. Unfortunately, the result is multi-year repeat visitors like us choosing more welcoming options. Not sure we’ll ever return.
Maui needs a political reset. Sack the mayor and the entire council and start over. Maui has suffered immeasurable harm by decades of greed and corruption. Wealthy developers and an out of control real estate industry have run roughshod over sensible planning and created this mess. This latest development does not thing to curb the incompetence. The people of Maui deserve so much better.
Sounds like this is a compromise with them trying to balance the local housing problem with needed tourism. Isn’t this a step in a positive direction?
Only sort of.
People go on vacation to relax and relieve stress. Nothing about this ban results in that. We just want to book a vacation and not worry about it. This is not a step in that direction. It is just more uncertainty. There isn’t a place to go that will simply tell a potential vacationer that on MM/DD/YY date this property is OK.
The other islands are simpler, that’s where I’ll be going.
There are a lot of complexes (some 8,00 units-worth) that are zoned H1/H2 (which means hotel zoning, i.e. they allow short term rentals by zoning, not by any exemption of grandfathered opinion). For example, I own at Kihei Kai Nani which is one of these complexes. It and other complexes like it will remain available no matter what happens with Bill 9. The county has a map viewer somewhere on their website that tells you the zoning of each complex.
I lived Maui for 30 years ! Build affordable houses, fix the roads, more parking at beaches condos etc , restrooms clean & working , reduce congestion work for the people environment and reduce costs
This article should mention the phase out period because for many, if not most, STR complexes, if the phase-out were to happen, it wouldn’t be till 2028 or even 2030. So visitors should book with confidence in many areas. It’s not as dire as this article makes it sound – from a visitor standpoint, anyway.
It’s a start, and far from an ideal solution, but saner heads have finally prevailed. Reversing the original stvr’s ban completely wasn’t possible, so this is a compromise. Lawsuits from owners will take care of the rest. With so many condos on the market now at reduced prices, it’s obvious that this ban wasn’t the solution to the housing shortage. This committee at least has the guts to take steps in the only feasible direction.