An eviction moratorium on Maui will expire Feb. 4, after being repeatedly extended over the past year.
“I think that the moratorium ending is going to leave a lot of people without a roof over their heads,” said Nara Boone, co-founder of Maui Housing Hui, which works in affordable housing advocacy and renter’s rights education. “And I do understand that landlords need to pay their mortgages. So there's also that side of it.”
Gov. Josh Green signed Act 202 into law in July 2024. It mandates mediation before these eviction cases go to court. Under Act 202, assistance from Maui Mediation Services is part of the process.
“What we are doing is as of Feb. 5, before a landlord can proceed with an eviction for non-payment of rent, they must send a notice to the tenant, they must send Maui Mediation Services a notice,” explained Bevanne Bowers, executive director of the organization.
“What that does is trigger a 15-day period where we will be trying to make contact with the tenant. The landlord must come to us before he can proceed to the courthouse.”
Bowers said the mediation process is intended to empower both parties.
“Because oftentimes you don't know their full story, nor do they know yours, and it's a way of promoting civility and peace in a time that has been so fraught with frustration,” she said.
Boone pointed out a big question.
“We actually don't know how many people are going to be affected by this situation.”
It’s a question that no one, including the state, seems to know the answer to.
Bowers said they’ll have to wait and see next month.
“What I can say is there are a lot of unknowns,” she explained. “For instance, this has been an effect for a year, a year and a half. How many of these tenants have relinquished their dwellings, moved someplace else, on Maui, or moved off-island, or even out of state? So there are a lot of things that we won't know until we start getting contacted by the landlords.”
Mana Moriarty, the executive director of the state’s Office of Consumer Protection, said they play an educational role through their Landlord-Tenant Information Center.
“There have been approximately 1,300 calls to our office relating to the emergency proclamations related to wildfires — that's the best indication we have that people need guidance on issues related to the emergency proclamations, which include the eviction moratorium.”
Moriarty said concerns about evictions as well as rent increases were by far the most common subjects of those calls.
The state has set a staggered schedule through Act 202 to help prevent an onslaught of cases. Starting in February, tenants owing four or more months in rent can request mediation. In March, tenants behind by three months or more can initiate mediation.
If tenants choose not to participate in the mediation process after receiving a notice from their landlord, the landlord can then file an eviction case in court 30 days later.
With the eviction moratorium ending, Boone said one protection does remain in place.
“Landlords are still not allowed to raise rents, even for new leases," she said. "That's very important for people to understand.”
And while Maui renters are having a hard time finding and paying for housing, and many landlords may be struggling to pay their own bills following the eviction moratorium, one thing is clear to Boone.
“I just can't stress enough, our housing situation on Maui is extremely dire, and we need those in power to step up and assist the community as a whole at this point,” she told HPR.
Both Bowers and Boone stressed that tenants worried about eviction don’t need to wait until Feb. 5 to reach out to the Maui Mediation Center.
