Governor calls for Maui tourist rentals to house fire victims
HONOLULU — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said he wants 3,000 condos and homes that are normally rented to Maui tourists converted to long-term housing for displaced wildfire survivors who are living in hotels.
Green said Friday he’s prepared to use the “hammer” of post-fire emergency orders to make sure owners of short-term vacation rentals extend them to longterm units if enough spaces aren’t converted voluntarily by mid-January.
The governor said that as of Thursday, there were 6,297 residents living in hotels, more than four months after the Aug. 8 wildfire wiped out historic Lahaina. The vast majority have nowhere else to go, given the extreme housing shortage on Maui.
The lack of stable housing has been a source of stress for Lahaina residents, some of whom have had to switch hotel rooms multiple times since the fire. One group is camping out on Kaanapali Beach in front of resort hotels and vows to stay there until short-term rentals are converted for the use of residents.
Green said a combination of county tax incentives and generous rent subsidies offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency should help.
FEMA on Monday sent letters to 13,000 short-term rental operators across Maui informing them that it would offer to pay them the same rent they had earned during the previous year, Green said. In addition, the Maui County Council is considering legislation promoted by the mayor for property tax breaks.
“So there is no reason at all for people not to take this opportunity, provided they want to be a helpful part of the solution,” Green said.
Green said he aims for these measures to provide interim housing for two years while more housing is built on Maui.
There are 12,000 to 14,000 units legally rented on a short-term basis on Maui, according to Green. If illegal units are included, there could be nearly 25,000, he estimated.