Maui's housing shortage is in crisis. As Lahaina residents are shuffled between temporary housing options, calls are getting louder to convert short-term rentals into long-term housing. What would that take? And is it even possible?
There's no shortage of homes to solve Maui’s housing crisis, says Mayor Richard Bissen.
“It's not that we don't have enough homes, we don't have enough money to pay for those particular homes,” said Bissen, speaking at last week’s Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement Convention on Maui.
“If money was not an object, we could buy all the second homes or short-term homes. The issue is, 'oh, no more ‘nough homes on Maui.' No, get plenty homes on Maui, plenty empty homes on Maui, that other people own.”
Matt Jachowski is a Native Hawaiian Maui resident and software developer who launched a website last month called Maui Hale Match.
“We have over 12,000 short-term rentals on Maui and over 12,000 second homes, but 24,000 units that are already built, they already have utilities and they sit empty for much of the year and we could be housing our families in them right now,” he said.
His website connects displaced fire victims with homeowners based on their needs. Jachowski has also compiled Maui housing data that's being used to help guide decision-making about long-term housing creation.
“We only need to house 3,000 to 3,500 families. That represents about 15% of all of the short-term rentals and second homes we have on Maui. It's a large percentage, but it's not so large that I lose hope.”
Jachowski has examined just what it would take to convert that 15% to long-term rentals.
“I did some financial analysis that showed between what families say they can afford and what we need to pay these short-term rental owners to basically make it the same as housing tourists, it would amount to over $100 million to house 3,000 families over one year,” he explained.
While it sounds like a lot, Jachowski says that doesn't include FEMA funds already allocated for housing assistance.
Maui County would also lose some tax revenue because short-term units are taxed at a higher rate than long-term rentals.
“Combined property tax loss and transient accommodation loss would be about $30 million that the county would lose out on," calculated Jachowski. "It sounds like a lot of money, but actually that amounts to just 3% of the county's budget for fiscal year 2024."
It's an option being considered as an interim housing plan for the next one to three years as Lahaina families rebuild and new housing is constructed.
Jason Economou is an attorney who used to work for the Realtors Association of Maui. He previously advocated in favor of short-term rentals but says he has shifted his view.
“Tourism is such a major part of our economy and I know that these properties represent a huge chunk of that tourism economy, but I don't want these families that have been here for generations to have to leave just because of our county’s failure to produce housing for the past 20 years, 30 years,” he said.
“And I really don't want them to have to leave while we have housing that are just sitting there vacant. It kills me. I think we as a people sort of need to prioritize helping each other over profiting from each other.”
Economou says the legality of the county banning short-term rentals or mandating conversion to long-term classification is complicated.
“Can the government just take away your right to conduct short-term rentals? If I buy a property and the county tells me I can do a certain use on that property, and I've been engaging in that use for years, and my economic well-being is reliant on this use that the county promised me I'm allowed to do. And suddenly the county says, 'Sorry, Jason, we lied. You're not allowed to do that… you need to figure something else out.'"
"That's going to cause me hardship. So I can understand that that you should be able to rely on the promises of the government,” Economou explained.
“Whose needs do we weigh heavier than others?” he continued. “Are we going to be more concerned with these businesses that are using the housing? Or should we be more concerned with the thousands of residents that are currently homeless through no fault of their own? I'm pretty concerned about the residents, personally.”
The Maui County Council has been debating short-term rentals and the restrictions, regulations and zoning surrounding them for decades.
Mayor Bissen says he’s now looking at the options.
Lahaina residents have been staked out at Ka’anapali Beach for the past two weeks in a “fish-in” until lawmakers find long-term housing solutions for fire victims. They say the mayor's words affirmed their efforts demanding the conversion of short-term units into long-term rentals – but they're still awaiting action.
“Government can take from one and give to another — we can do that, we've been working on that," Bissen said.
“What the County is seeking is voluntary compliance from the industry to donate the rooms or the homes, the stuff that we need. That’s the first thing, is to ask, 'Can you turn your units into that [long-term rentals]?' Now, if they say, 'no,' then we have the option that has been talked about [government-mandated conversion]. It's not that we don't understand the option or we're not aware of the option, the question is, 'when do you…make that call?'"
