Even before last summer's devastating wildfire, Danielle Crothers and her husband were struggling to find a home (big enough, but affordable) on the west side of Maui for their newly blended family.
The deadly fire then decimated more than 2,000 homes in Lahaina, including the apartment where her new husband, Rigoberto Naranjo, lived with their 15-year-old son. She would have taken them in, Crothers said, but she simply didn't have room in her small apartment, where she lives with her 9-year-old daughter.
The newlyweds tried to hold out hope that a space would soon open up for their family of four, especially given the influx of relief organizations and aid to fire survivors. But now, nearly nine months later, her husband and stepson are still living in a hotel room and her family remains separated, even as tourists have returned to the island, many of them staying in short-term rentals in neighborhoods where Crothers would love to live.
The family's plight, like that of thousands of people on Maui, is one reason Hawaiian counties could soon crack down on services from companies like Airbnb and VRBO.
“It's sad because all the survivors of the fire could be housed if the short-term rentals were converted to long-term rentals… and not all of them” would even need to be converted, Crothers said. “There is enough housing, it's just not for the residents. “It really makes me angry.”
State lawmakers evidently share that anger, overwhelmingly passing a bill Wednesday to give counties the ability to phase out short-term rentals. Gov. Josh Green is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday.
Crothers, who is now five months pregnant, said she is hopeful the new law will allow families like hers to plan for their future on Maui and across the Hawaiian Islands, which face a worsening housing crisis: housing costs highest in the country and one of the worst homeless rates.
“I would just be grateful to be able to live in a house with [Naranjo] and bring the baby into the world in a comfortable [place],” she said.
As of this week, about 1,750 people displaced by the fire remain in hotels awaiting long-term lodging, according to the American Red Cross, despite the bonus the Federal Emergency Management Agency has offered hotel owners. short-term rentals (almost double what is fair). market rate: rent their units to fire victims.
Across Maui, more than 12,000 housing units operate legally as short-term rentals, and officials estimate another 10,000 do so illegally, according to the governor. In Lahaina, where Crothers and her husband would like to stay to eliminate longer commutes for them or new schools for her children, one in three homes is used as a vacation rental, according to a 2018 report.
Given the state's new authority, Maui leaders announced a plan Thursday that would phase out permits for about 7,000 of those short-term rentals that were considered legal vacation rentals decades ago. Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. would like to see these apartments rezoned for long-term residential use, possibly starting next summer.
The proposal has yet to go before Maui's planning commission and county council, but Bissen said the goal is to “create urgently needed housing for displaced survivors of the wildfires and increase inventory for local residents in the whole county.”
“Every day our people leave, and this is a consequence that we cannot accept as a community,” Bissen said at a news conference Thursday.
State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, one of the Senate bill's co-sponsors, called its passage “a big deal,” necessary for local leaders to regulate the short-term rental industry that has exploded in recent years.
“It was time to modernize the code and it was time for the Legislature to talk about this issue,” said Keohokalole, an Oahu Democrat. “What is housing and what is commercial tourist activity? “The lines have been blurred significantly since the 1950s.”
“This bill is an attempt to reset the policy to make clear that neighborhoods for workers should remain such and should not become virtual hotel rooms,” he said.
The bill, SB 2919, allows for new “transitional lodging” regulation, giving counties the authority to change residential zoning, something Maui leaders have taken advantage of. Although the law will take effect upon the governor's signature, state officials have said it will likely be years before any elimination approved by a county takes effect. Maui leaders would like to see the phase-out of some short-term rentals begin next summer in West Maui and by 2026 on the rest of the island.
Several lawmakers said the fortunes of the state bill were boosted by grassroots support, particularly from the advocacy group Lahaina Strong, which supported the legislation for months in the wake of the wildfires.
“This is not just a victory for affordable housing, it is a victory for the spirit of our community,” Lahaina Strong organizers posted in a video after the bill received enough votes in favor. “With the passage of SB 2919, we are not only imagining a better future, we are taking it back, neighborhood by neighborhood.”
Lahaina Strong organizers have spent the last five months camping on one of the island's most important beaches, serving as a daily reminder to locals and tourists that the island continues to suffer a housing crisis. Many of the advocates called to testify in support of the bill were from the “Housing Fishing” protest, which organizers said they planned to finally pack up after this legislative victory.
Although the effort to change zoning laws garnered widespread support, it faced fierce opposition from real estate agents, short-term rental owners and Airbnb. Many testified about the revenue state and local governments would lose if such rents were limited.
An Airbnb spokesperson declined Thursday to comment on the bill's passage. The company and its lobbyists had previously cited their ongoing work with Hawaiian counties to help limit illegal rentals and said certain changes would likely bring legal challenges.
Bissen said Thursday that his team expects such pushback as they try to implement the new state law. The mayor also acknowledged that changing short-term rentals to long-term residences would move them into a lower property tax bracket, which could reduce county revenue by $30 million if his proposal is implemented as this.
“There are impacts if we do this and there are impacts if we don't,” Bissen said. “Our priority is to house our local residents.”
Andre Makakoa, a Lahaina Strong organizer who camped for months to demonstrate the need for more housing, called this week's legislative victories just the beginning for his community as it continues to recover from last summer's wildfire.
“It's not just our community that's fighting for this, it's a big movement that's happening,” said Makakoa, 29. “Housing is extremely important to us now, but there is so much more: infrastructure, water and then everything that has to do with rebuilding.”
