This weekend, Barcelona, facing soaring housing costs and other issues, announced plans to abolish short-term vacation rentals by 2028. And similarly, Maui is considering reducing its own vacation rental inventory. We’ll look at both tourist locations today, almost 8,000 miles apart, and how they work through the same issues.
Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni said drastic measures are needed to combat rising rents and property prices, making the city more livable for residents. The ban will revoke licenses for more than ten thousand legal vacation rental apartments, converting them to local use. Critics are arguing, among other things, that it may lead to increased illegal vacation rentals and economic downsides starting with their all-important tourism sector that is said to employ some 150,000 people.
This latest initiative is part of broader efforts throughout Spain to manage mass tourism and its impacts on local communities. Does that sound familiar when you think about Hawaii?
In a similar vein, Malaga has also faced challenges with managing vacation rentals amidst growing tourism. As highlighted by our recent Beat of Hawaii article contrasting Europe and Hawaii, cities like Malaga are facing strong push-back against visitors and implementing stricter regulations to balance the benefits of tourism with the need for affordable housing for residents.
Maui’s approach to vacation rentals.
With long-term housing shortages exacerbated by last year’s wildfires, Maui has initiated plans for severe cuts to vacation rentals. Following Hawaii Senate Bill 2919, permitting the counties to take matters into their own hands, the mayor immediately announced plans to eliminate over 7,000 short-term rentals by 2026, prioritizing them for long-term housing for residents. This move claims to address the island’s housing crisis but faces significant challenges, including potential job losses and decreased tax revenue. Critics argue that the measures may not effectively resolve housing issues and could instead severely harm the local economy that is dependent on tourism.
Comparison and insights between Maui and Barcelona.
Both Barcelona and Maui are considering implementing stringent measures to regulate short-term rentals driven by housing affordability and resident needs. And yet, both places have a multitude of issues that aren’t entirely comparable.
Barcelona’s plan is broader and thus far more definitive, aiming for a complete ban, while Maui focuses on significant reductions. Both face criticism regarding economic impacts and the potential rise of illegal rentals. These initiatives highlight the global challenge of balancing tourism with local housing needs and sustainability, setting precedents for other regions grappling with similar issues.
In addition, the Maui County Council is rethinking its approach to its vacation rental ban, first considering a $300,000 study to assess the full impact of these regulations. This pause aims to ensure that the measures taken will effectively address housing issues without causing unintended economic harm to the island. The study will provide a comprehensive understanding of the ramifications, guiding future decisions in balancing sustainable tourism with local housing needs.
The comparison between Barcelona and Maui underscores the worldwide complexities of managing short-term rentals throughout tourist-heavy destinations. As both regions navigate these changes, the outcomes will be closely watched by other locations facing similar dilemmas. The success or failure of these policies could provide lessons in achieving well-thought-out and sustainable tourism and long-term housing solutions.
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The elimination/restrictions of short term rentals is happening globally. I was a fan of short term rentals but now understand how they impact housing,communities; and also the local job market ;and now there is a shortage of plumbers,nurses,retail clerks,County Workers because people are employed by short term rentals; ,but it’s created a kind of class system.
I travel to a place that I genuinely love in Italy; and I will continue to travel there despite changes being made to short term rentals.
Travelers that state they will not return to Maui/Hawaii if short term rentals are restricted ,will find other places to visit; and the folks who love Hawaii will continue to find a way to visit
I feel the solution to affordable housing is not shutting down rentals. As crazy as it seems, the solution is to actually build affordable housing. There are large plots of land just waiting to be built on in Hawaii. What’s the Government doing over there? They seem to want to do everything except build.
I have lived in Maui (Huelo & Napili) and was impacted in a negative way by the short term rentals. Turning residential neighborhoods into “hotels” is not fair to the residences who live there. Many people who buy these properties Can’t afford them without renting. I do believe that even though I am not a fan, there will many lawsuits and it won’t have the intended impact of creating more housing for locals for many years
The article mentioned several times that short term rentals may increase on Maui, if there Is a reduction in the legal ones. Not mentioned is the fact that Maui has already instituted very strict $20,000 per day penalties for illegal short-term rentals.
Finding the illegal ones is not that difficult since almost all of them advertise somewhere on the Internet.
Regulations of this nature tend to get driven underground. People find a way around them, and the enforcement of these kinds of regulations seems to be elusive. Consequently, you end up with STRs with no tax money coming in. Even the Mayor and the Council recognize this unintended consequence.
I feel that the whole idea of “Aloha” is phony. In the 1970s, we were in Hilo, and decided to leave. The hatred among the various cultural groups was palpable. Japanese Hawaiians and Filipino Hawaiians and Hawaiian Hawaiians all talked smack about each other. And they yelled out to us from passing trucks, as “haoles.” It was just plain ugly. When we came back to visit Maui years later, it seemed to have calmed down. Yet, maybe not. I think this anti-tourism thing will flow back into where it was before, and reveal the cultural schisms that must still be there.
I get the concern about the effect that the “ban”, which isn’t a “ban”, it’s a reduction in the number of STVRs, could have on the economy of Maui. But everyone that I see posting here is making the assumption that when 7K STVRs get shut down, that All of those people who would have used them simply don’t come to Maui at all, ever. I doubt that’s the case. I think it’s going to be more complex than that and an unbiased study might be just the thing to see what the impact might actually be.
Does Barcelona have a high percentage of non-owner occupied and non-resident investment owners?
First off, Barcelona/Spain is not 90% dependent on tourism. Every person and business on Maui benefits in one way or another from tourism as does the island and state. This articles may make the mayor feel like his plans to ban STRs is acceptable but there are more differences than similarities to our needs and the effects. There are other jobs/commerce in Spain. Our people will have to leave for jobs.
Love Maui with many visits over the last 25 years. I feel for those residents seeking affordable housing. This is a nation wide issue especially in tourist areas. The solution is build more housing. On Maui and the rest of Hawaii as well government has many road blocks in the way. Hawaii is a maze of government red tape to build anything much of it is unnecessary. Converting condos is not the long term solution for families. Cut the red tape and build while restricting vacation rentals to certain areas. Come on Hawaii this is not that hard. Elect the right people and make it happen!
Does anyone know (I do not) when the last housing development was built that included affordable housing in Maui? The only building I see is someone knocking down an older home and rebuilding a new home on the property.
It seems like the no one wants to promote development of housing, only the takeover of STR and call it new housing.
I’m not a resident but I’ve heard the permitting process is responsible for killing a number of these projects. The same politicians that are pushing eliminating STVRs are responsible. You should Vote to clean house next time.
Great reporting of other destinations dealing with what the internet and airbnb, vrbo, etc have wrought. Time and technology offer greater experiences. Travel across the ocean by boat once took a week or two. Now you can travel across the globe by air in less than a work day. Communities cannot legislate themselves into fortresses. How well did the Great Wall in China accomplish that? Spain and America are different. Spain was an autocratic monarchy the a fascist dictatorship and now a hybrid democracy. The U.S. has a bold Constitution guarding individual rights. The Maui plan as it has been announced thus far will ultimately be struck down because our Constitution says so. Other options for housing exist but for impatient emotionally driven politicians who choose to grab solutions with a mentality of it’s easy and zero work required to get what you want, bark it out at the entrance and bingo, like passing through McDonald’s drive-thru.
Thank you again for very clear writing and understanding of issues that face Hawai’i and the rest of the world. Let’s face it there is a great difference between the people who make money off of tourism in Hawaii and those who simply want to live and thrive. It seems like the snorkel tour boat companies, the airbnbs and other companies look to ride the tourism wave while the rest of the community deals with it. It’s not exactly Fair.
Drew 808: That’s a great solution. Be prepared to cut asking prices to ¼ of the current going rates. The genie is out of the bottle and can’t be stuffed back in.
Vancouver, BC Canada has done the same. Also several other higher population cities like Victoria and Kelowna BC
Again, other places have commerce other than tourism. Maui does not. We are an island not a city.
You are missing the biggest difference between the two. It’s called the US Constitution.
I’m curious what it is that makes you qualified to determine that the “law” is unconstitutional? Are you a practicing constitutional attorney? People throw this kind of statement out all of the time and I’d love to understand what makes them think they are qualified to do so? Will it all be tested in the courts, yes. But I can tell you this, based on some quick Googling, Zoning laws have been upheld by the courts for a very long time, so I think that just tossing that out there alone with no example of where very similar laws have been struck down, etc. doesn’t help the conversation at all. Saying it’s going to be tested in the courts, sure, but just “it’s unconstitutional” sorry, no buying it.
Try reading the 5th Ammendment to the Constitution. We don’t have to be attorneys to read and understand our rights under the Constitution.
What does not incriminating yourself under the fifth amendment or pleading the fifth have to do with this argument? Is that what you meant? That’s a very confusing statement. And yes we all can read the Constitution if we can read cursive!
The 5th amendment is the Due Process under the law clause. It also covers the government seizing your property. This is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. You can read that for yourself, and you can choose to interput it. But in the end that doesn’t matter, it’s how the courts interput it that does, and unless you’ve studied the law, you’re in no position (without a LOT of research) to determine that the law in Hawaii is “unconstitutional” under the 5th (or potentially the 14th since I believe it’s the one that extends due process to the states the 5th only applies to the federal goverment) amendment.
There was an op-ed in CivilBeat from a supposedly repentant real-estate agent saying she will no longer sell to non-residents. While this may be spin – or remorse – it may not be legal unless the sellers themselves will not entertain non-residents’ offers. And that’s going to be what it takes to turn the situation around in Maui. Current owners will need to take a principled stand and say they will only sell to fellow local residents.
Most likely we will sell to whoever comes up with our price first no matter where the buyer is from. We can’t hold our breath for locals without income to qualify for home loans.
About 15 years ago I rented a room in a home in Hana where there are very limited hotels. The room was great at a reasonable price. A couple of years later I called to rent the room again and was told they could no longer rent the room because of local law. That is sad. Parking prices are also going way up. There used to be free parking at the Iao valley and shopping. I love Maui, but the huge price increases make it worse and worse
Apples and Oranges to compare the the two.
Maui’s main economy is tourism. Barcelona main economy is chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, electronics, and appliance manufacturing are among Barcelona’s leading industries, as taken from Britannica. com.
The idea of eliminating short term rentals is different than limiting the number of short term rentals.
Maybe Barcelona has more job opportunities than hawaii. Here, we are completely codependent on tourism. You close vacation rentals, you kill residents. We are an island, housing is expensive. Politicians should look into reducing taxes, food which is astronomical . Cut down the salary of city councils and politicians in general. See how they feel
Well explained. The ones backing this ban may not feel any consequences- yet.
Good luck to that! What you think is high prices are global. Here in our area the average price is 595,000. We are a draw for vacationer with events like this weekends Olympic trials. Many people are renting out room and entire homes to make money which pays their mortgage, super for them! Also, check out the numbers for yourself. Be blessed with what you have life is short.
We have similar challenges here in Napa with soaring housing and rental prices, plus the emergence of “shared or partial ownership” with eight or ten “shares” sold for three or four weeks a year. Employees in multiple fields, from medical care to retail and hospitality have to drive many extra miles daily but one difference is we’re not an island, though facing similar issues.
-Maui has 165,000 people, and is largely dependent on tourism.
-Maui’s land mass is 727 square miles. Lots of room to build.
– Barcelona has 5.8 million including the outskirts, and has many other industries besides tourism.
– Barcelona’s land mass is 37 square miles
So Barcelona is 20 times as small, with 35 times as many people. That’s density. Nowhere to build.
Apples and oranges.
With all due respect, much of Maui’s land mass is taken up by heavily mountainous terrain, not suitable for development. Roads and infrastructure are not sufficient to support increased development in areas beyond West Maui, and water is extremely limited in West Maui.
Decades upon decades of poor decisions are responsible for the current mess, resulting in land ownership out of balance for local needs. Water rights were wrongfully privatized, and developer greed has corrupted a generation of politicians into making extremely short-sighted decisions.
There’s no way out of this mess without pain shared equally. Right now, that pain is overwhelmingly felt by those displaced by the wildfires. It’s going to take decades to find a new and sustainable equilibrium.
Many more places outside of Maui and Barcelona are experiencing people not being able to live in the communities they grew up in. Burbank, California is one in particular, and they’re angry they can’t afford a home to rent or buy. The population has grown on earth and people are living very long lives. I’ve never been a big proponent of vacation homes in communities because of this very same reason. No residential community should allow less than a 30 day stay – that’s why we have hotels, hostels and timeshares. Who wants a vacation party house in their neighborhood with people coming and going at all hours of the night and day?
Agree with STRs being banned in residential areas out of consideration for the neighborhood. Most of the properties proposed for banning are not meant to be long term homes. Yet these areas are almost next to the residential areas. They are too small for a family. They will never be low income affordable homes. The high costs are real costs. Only if the state subsidizes the costs could they be affordable. In that case why not build true affordable housing and leave our income producing properties alone?
Barcelona (1.66 million) has ten times the population of Maui (164 thousand, including Lanai and Molokai). So, not really comparable unless Barcelona was shutting down ten times as many STRs as Maui has proposed to shut down. Also, neither Catalonia nor Maui are (presently – subject to change) socialist/communist, so neither can compel the former STRs to be “converted into long term residences for locals”. They can simply hope it works out that way. That said, if even half of the 10K STRs in Barcelona become LTRs, this would be a drop in their housing and tourist economy buckets (much less impact on both). On Maui, 7000 STRs will arguably make a much bigger impact on both.
It is the same in every heavily visited location, blame tourism, even though it is the primary industry and cash cow that fills your coffers. Governments are the same everywhere. The money is not out of their pockets, so spend foolishly and put affordable housing at the bottom of your list. Then, when you hit a crisis point, make sure you blame anything but yourselves. Just a quick Google search and you’ll see the countries that put some effort into making life affordable for their citizens.
I’m concerned that the Maui Council’s decision to “pause” and do a new study is just an attempt to get out oh the corner they painted themselves into. I understand a study has already been done but it’s hard to find because it verifies the huge negative impact the mayor’s approach will have on Maui’s economy. If the council is really going to represent its constituents, it should release the study they already have and invite voters to participate in a straw poll or have hearings with public participation. They and all elected county officials should also divulge all contributions to their campaign coffers.
This may sound really weird, but it seems to me that the cause of the proliferation of short term rentals is a lack of affordable tourist housing. There needs to be both affordable local housing and affordable tourist housing. STRs are attractive because they are often much cheaper than a hotel (particularly for multi-family groups and factoring in the ability to prepare your own food and not have to eat out for every meal, resort fees, parking fees, etc.). Of course, there are people that prefer the “authentic” neighborhood experience, but if there were more affordable hotels for tourists to stay in (“in which to stay” for the English majors), I believe the demand for STRs would drop accordingly.
I have a suggestion: Have the Maui County Council implement some of the excellent remedial comments from BOH subscribers concerning the short term rental issue and save themselves $300,000!
Seriously, $300,000 to study this, it isn’t rocket science, whose pocket is that money going into and what will they get out of the study, absolutely there’s nothing. The problem may be short-term rentals but it’s more the politicians that you elect into office.
I’ll do the study for $200,000. Then they’ll save $100,000 which they can use to provide affordable housing. Win-win. I’m standing by the phone.