Latest news with #MauiCountyCouncil
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Owners claim Maui residents can't afford converted vacation rentals, UH study says otherwise
Owners and managers of Maui short-term vacation rentals have argued during two days of public hearings that local residents cannot afford the rent if 6, 100 units are converted into long-term housing, as proposed by Mayor Richard Bissen. Residents who also testified before the Maui County Council last week in support of Bill 9 repeatedly have called the claim offensive. An economic analysis by the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization backs up the residents' testimony. The analysis shows that over 11, 600 Maui households—or 21 % of all households on the island—already use 30 % of their incomes to pay for housing and could afford to move into converted units because the owners would see their tax rate fall to Maui County's lowest rate as the value of their homes continues to drop. The pool of Maui residents already paying even more of their incomes for housing is even greater. An additional 15, 500 Maui households use 30 % to 50 % of their incomes toward housing, according to the UHERO analysis, and they also could afford to rent converted vacation rentals, meaning long-term housing for a total of over 27, 100 Maui households. Matt Jachowski, one of Bissen's executive assistants, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 'Many of our households already spend that range of money on housing.' Some '27 % of all renters in the county are already cost-burdened, ' Jachowski said. 'So it's obtainable.' The Maui County Council's Housing and Land Use Committee will have to vet the competing claims when it resumes hearings all day Monday and again Tuesday night. All nine members of the Council serve on the committee, so the committee vote on Bill 9 will provide a strong indicator of how the full Council will act on the measure. If approved, Bill 9 would take effect in West Maui by July 1, 2028. The units in question represent less than half of Maui's estimated 13, 000 legal short-term vacation rentals, and Bissen previously told the Star-Advertiser that tourists remain welcome on Maui. Bissen said he wants to free up housing for local residents and bring better balance to the proportion of vacation rentals on Maui, which has more short-term vacation rentals than even Oahu. On Maui, temporary vacation rentals make up 21 % of the housing inventory. 'Maui is this complete outlier in how many TVRs we have, ' said Jachowski, noting the figure is only 3 % for London, which has the highest percentage of housing dedicated to transient vacation rentals compared to Los Angeles, Boston and Barcelona. UHERO ALSO reported that the total monthly cost of housing for Maui residents to move into a converted short-term vacation rental also would fall, from $5, 829 to $4, 601, because of declining property values and taxes. Maui County witnessed eight consecutive years of increased condo sales prices, from $402, 000 in 2016 to $900, 500 in 2024. But prices dropped for the first time since 2016 after Bissen introduced Bill 9. In the first five months of 2025, the average sales price has fallen from $900, 500 to $760, 000. Several owners of short-term rentals and their property managers have testified that no one wants to buy on Maui since Bill 9 was introduced, especially potential out-of-state investors who would be barred from renting them to tourists for their vacations. Owners' monthly cost for a vacation rental, including mortgage, insurance, association fees and other expenses, were running at $5, 800 per month, Jachowski said. Now, with Bill 9 on the table, the costs have fallen to $4, 601 per month, putting the lower price within reach of the 27, 100 Maui residents who already pay that much, he said. UHERO looked at other cities that now restrict 1 % of their short-term vacation rentals and found that housing prices and rents fell by 4 % in Los Angeles and London and by lesser amounts in Barcelona and Boston. Bill 9 would 'revert ' all apartment district properties to long-term residential use and remove the exception for transient vacation rental units built or approved before 1989. For Maui residents who can afford to buy one of the converted units, the tax rates would plummet from $12.50 per $1, 000 of value to just $5 for an owner-occupied unit, Jachowski said. BISSEN spokesperson Laksmi Abraham acknowledged UHERO's expectation of job losses in Maui's short-term vacation rental industry but said there will still be a need for workers in the nearly 9, 000 remaining vacation rentals, including plumbers, electricians and others to work on the units that convert to long-term housing. Short-term rentals average only 53 % occupancy annually, and Abraham said those that remain for tourists 'will see an uptick in their occupancy and they're still going to need somebody to manage a lot of these units. There will be impact, but the transition won't be as drastic as UHERO paints it to be.' At the same time, Ja chow ski noted that UHERO said that as the 'affordability of housing improves, housing costs are also going down, and that's important.' Maui short-term vacation rental owners and their property managers also have repeatedly argued that local residents do not want to live in their one-and two-bedroom units—a claim residents also called offensive. Data compiled in the aftermath of the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire that destroyed 3, 500 homes in Lahaina backs up local renters. Many of them have scrambled over the last two years to find and afford increasingly expensive long-term housing. Before the disaster, many survivors were living in large multigenerational homes that were destroyed. Since then, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement had the highest demand for one-and two-bedroom units as individual, smaller family units that used to live in multigenerational homes searched for housing for themselves, Jachowski said. 'The data clearly shows we have a lot of households that are smaller and could benefit from smaller homes, ' he said. IN 2024, Gov. Josh Green signed Senate Bill 2919 into law clarifying that each county has the authority to determine what to do with transient vacation rentals as the state faced an ongoing shortage of 50, 000 homes. Bissen was the first to respond with Bill 9. Bissen and Green have repeatedly said Maui and the state cannot build their way out of the lack of housing. To them, converting vacation rentals into long-term housing represents the most logical path forward. State Rep. Luke Evslin (D, Wailua-Lihue ), who chairs the House Committee on Housing, has been working on ideas ahead of the next legislative session to create more housing but said the counties now control the future of their own short-term vacation rentals. 'We've done all we can do on the short-term vacation issue, ' Evslin said. 'At this point, it's up to them.' Several members of the Honolulu City Council's Housing, Homelessness and Parks Committee did not respond to Star-Advertiser requests for comment on what they might do about converting Oahu's short-term vacation rentals. Matt Weyer, who serves on the housing committee, said he's more interested in cracking down on the estimated 118 to 120 illegal short-term rental units in his district, especially in residential and rural areas around Turtle Bay Resort. Weyer's Council district stretches across the North Shore down to the upper Windward side and as far south as Mililani. In the North Shore alone, Weyer said, there are about 262 legal short-term rentals, and he has not heard an outcry from residents to convert them into long-term housing. 'I wouldn't say phasing them out would solve the problems we're facing, ' he said. 'We're looking at how we can best target illegal vacation rentals … by enforcing the existing laws. That's the struggle. We want to ensure that folks that are doing it illegally are doing it legally. That really creates the biggest impact.' U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, whose district includes rural Oahu and the neighbor islands, said that converting Maui's 6, 100 short-term vacation rentals into long-term housing might help the island's housing shortage and stem the exodus of local residents to the mainland. 'We've got to do something, ' Tokuda said. 'It's going to require some bold, pretty bold action to keep people here and to free up available units for local families. If not, they're going to keep leaving.'
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maui vacation rental bill draws support, opposition at heated hearing
Owners and managers of some Maui vacation rentals predicted that Mayor Richard Bissen's proposal to convert 6, 100 units into long-term housing will not work and could have unintended consequences. Some argued at Monday's hearing of the Maui County Council's Housing and Land Use Committee that most Valley Isle residents cannot afford the $4, 000 and more they need in monthly rent to keep up with mortgages, taxes, association fees and other expenses. Several said the value on their units ever since Bissen proposed Bill 9 last year has plummeted and they have received no offers—either from local residents or out-of-state investors frightened away because they might not be able to use them as short-term rentals. As a result, they said, renters and buyers who can afford the rent or sales costs might move in from the mainland, meaning Bill 9 would not attain its goal of affordable housing for residents. One woman said she listed one of her two Kihei rental units for sale for $900, 000 last year, then dropped the price to $600, 000 and still received no offers, which she said proves the cost of her unit remains out of reach for local residents. At Monday's hearing, 176 people signed up to testify but only 52 had the chance to speak. The meeting adjourned until June 18 when Council members are prepared to hear a full day of additional testimony. They also earmarked June 23 for a possible third day of hearings. All nine Council members serve on the Housing and Land Use Committee and their votes will provide a preview of what could happen when Bill 9 goes before the Council. The proposal has drawn 'passionate discussion ' that has included bullying and threats, Committee Chair Tasha Kama said. People on both sides of Bill 9 told the committee they have been harassed, and one said he was threatened in person that his house should be burned. Kama regularly admonished people in the audience to refrain from cheering for comments both for and against Bill 9. The hearing began with Bissen and members of his administration arguing the need to reign in housing costs and create more affordable housing for residents, which was exacerbated by the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires that destroyed 3, 500 homes and killed 102 people. Bissen amended Bill 9 to give owners three years to transition out of the short-term rental industry, either by renting long term or selling to local residents. Proponents and opponents for the bill repeatedly cited a University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization study in April that predicted losses of jobs, property taxes and visitors among other negative economic impacts of Bill 9. But Bissen said the UHERO report does not tell the 'full story ' of the ongoing departures of Maui families, kupuna, local knowledge and critical workers such as teachers and firefighters, in addition to forcing children to grow up somewhere other than Maui. He argued that short-term rentals have helped exacerbate Maui's housing shortage and have been banned in places like London, Los Angeles and New York. At the same time, Bissen said, 'we cannot build fast enough.' Bill 9, by contrast, will 'make immediate progress, not years down the line, ' he said. Currently, only 4 % of homes are affordable for local residents, Bissen's executive assistant Matt Jachowski said. He cited the UHERO report that the price of condos would drop 25 % in 2027, which would make them affordable to 11, 600 more Maui households. Bill 9 also has been forecast to lead to a 33 % drop in tourists, which would give Maui a ratio of 1 visitor for every 3.3 residents, putting it more in line with other island counties. Before the wildfires, Maui had a ratio of one tourist for every 2.3 residents, Jachowski said. The need for clean water also hurts construction development and Jachowski said vacation rentals use 60 % to 120 % more water than permanent housing. 'We have a moral obligation to act, ' Bissen said. 'The status quo is failing our people.'
San Francisco Chronicle
09-06-2025
- General
- San Francisco Chronicle
50 trucks will spend 5 months transporting Lahaina wildfire debris to a Maui landfill
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Fifty trucks will spend five months hauling Lahaina wildfire debris to a landfill in the center of Maui starting next Monday, Maui County said. There's enough debris to fill five football fields five stories high. About two years ago the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and turned vast stretches of Lahaina into burned rubble. The trucks are expected to make multiple trips each day moving the debris from Olowalu, a town south of Lahaina, to the Central Maui Landfill about 19 miles (30 kilometers) away, the county said in a statement. Part of the route follows a winding, two-land coastal highway. The trucks will travel on former sugar cane plantation roads for portions to limit traffic disruption. For safety reasons, crews will only work during the day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished clearing Lahaina properties earlier this year but it's had to temporarily store the debris at a former quarry on state-owned land in Olowalu while authorities searched for longer-term solution. In December, the Maui County Council approved acquiring privately owned land next to Maui's existing landfill for a permanent disposal site. Handling debris after large wildfires is always a logistical challenge. It took Paradise, California, officials about a year to transport more than 300,000 truck loads of debris to three different landfills after the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and burned most of the town. Maui County said it evaluated the debris with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health and determined transporting and storing it at the landfill didn't post a public health risk. Workers will lightly wet it before loading it onto trucks to control dust. The debris will be wrapped in thick plastic sheets. In total, it weighs about 400,000 tons (363,00 metric tons). Some Olowalu residents were worried the debris would stay in their community permanently, potentially desecrating Native Hawaiian shrines, ancient burial sites and offshore coral reefs and marine life. Most of the steel and concrete left behind by the fire was to be recycled. Much of the debris heading for the landfill is ash and small particles, which state Department of Health tests found had arsenic, lead and other toxins.
09-06-2025
- General
50 trucks will spend 5 months transporting Lahaina wildfire debris to a Maui landfill
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Fifty trucks will spend five months hauling Lahaina wildfire debris to a landfill in the center of Maui starting next Monday, Maui County said. There's enough debris to fill five football fields five stories high. About two years ago the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and turned vast stretches of Lahaina into burned rubble. The trucks are expected to make multiple trips each day moving the debris from Olowalu, a town south of Lahaina, to the Central Maui Landfill about 19 miles (30 kilometers) away, the county said in a statement. Part of the route follows a winding, two-land coastal highway. The trucks will travel on former sugar cane plantation roads for portions to limit traffic disruption. For safety reasons, crews will only work during the day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished clearing Lahaina properties earlier this year but it's had to temporarily store the debris at a former quarry on state-owned land in Olowalu while authorities searched for longer-term solution. In December, the Maui County Council approved acquiring privately owned land next to Maui's existing landfill for a permanent disposal site. Handling debris after large wildfires is always a logistical challenge. It took Paradise, California, officials about a year to transport more than 300,000 truck loads of debris to three different landfills after the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and burned most of the town. Maui County said it evaluated the debris with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health and determined transporting and storing it at the landfill didn't post a public health risk. Workers will lightly wet it before loading it onto trucks to control dust. The debris will be wrapped in thick plastic sheets. In total, it weighs about 400,000 tons (363,00 metric tons). Some Olowalu residents were worried the debris would stay in their community permanently, potentially desecrating Native Hawaiian shrines, ancient burial sites and offshore coral reefs and marine life.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
50 trucks will spend 5 months transporting Lahaina wildfire debris to a Maui landfill
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Fifty trucks will spend five months hauling Lahaina wildfire debris to a landfill in the center of Maui starting next Monday, Maui County said. There's enough debris to fill five football fields five stories high. About two years ago the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and turned vast stretches of Lahaina into burned rubble. The trucks are expected to make multiple trips each day moving the debris from Olowalu, a town south of Lahaina, to the Central Maui Landfill about 19 miles (30 kilometers) away, the county said in a statement. Part of the route follows a winding, two-land coastal highway. The trucks will travel on former sugar cane plantation roads for portions to limit traffic disruption. For safety reasons, crews will only work during the day. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finished clearing Lahaina properties earlier this year but it's had to temporarily store the debris at a former quarry on state-owned land in Olowalu while authorities searched for longer-term solution. In December, the Maui County Council approved acquiring privately owned land next to Maui's existing landfill for a permanent disposal site. Handling debris after large wildfires is always a logistical challenge. It took Paradise, California, officials about a year to transport more than 300,000 truck loads of debris to three different landfills after the 2018 Camp Fire killed 85 people and burned most of the town. Maui County said it evaluated the debris with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Hawaii Department of Health and determined transporting and storing it at the landfill didn't post a public health risk. Workers will lightly wet it before loading it onto trucks to control dust. The debris will be wrapped in thick plastic sheets. In total, it weighs about 400,000 tons (363,00 metric tons). Some Olowalu residents were worried the debris would stay in their community permanently, potentially desecrating Native Hawaiian shrines, ancient burial sites and offshore coral reefs and marine life. Most of the steel and concrete left behind by the fire was to be recycled. Much of the debris heading for the landfill is ash and small particles, which state Department of Health tests found had arsenic, lead and other toxins.
