Hawaii to limit vacation rentals in response to tight housing market | Hawaii

Hawaii lawmakers have voted to put limits on short-term rentals such as Airbnbs. On Friday, the governor, Josh Green, signed a bill that would give counties the power to regulate short-term rentals and even phase them out to become long-term housing for local residents.

The move on short-term rentals was one of several legislative decisions to come out of Friday’s meeting of the state legislature. It also appropriated $1bn to go toward the ongoing recovery from the Lahaina fire on 8 August, including more than $120m in rental assistance for people who are ineligible for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and $500m for emergency housing for residents who remain displaced, according to ABC News.

The state house speaker, Scott Saiki, a Democrat, told reporters on Wednesday that this bill – SB2919 – differed from recent past attempts to address the state’s housing shortage. Those primarily involved subsidies for affordable housing construction.

“We’re seeing in other states, and even in other countries, that governments are looking at zoning as one of the barriers to housing development,” Saiki said. “And it was time for Hawaii to take a look at that as well.”

The bill will essentially give counties the authority to redefine zoning ordinances and phase out short-term rentals into long-term residential housing, something that has been a dire need, especially since the Maui wildfires.

The early August wildfire that decimated the historic town of Lahaina and killed 100 people brought to light the number of short-term rentals owned by people on the mainland and how they’ve contributed to the housing shortage across Hawaii. In late February, Green called the situation “bullshit”.

“This fire uncovered a clear truth, which is: we have too many short-term rentals owned by too many individuals on the mainland,” he said during a 27 February press conference. “I would like them to sell to local owners or at least rent long-term.”

Maui’s mayor acted on this bill immediately by announcing county legislation that would phase out vacation rentals operating in areas zoned for apartments. The bill would affect 2,200 west Maui units in and around Lahaina and nearly 5,000 more elsewhere in the county.

The future of Maui as it relates to land ownership has been of the utmost concern for local residents who, soon after the fire, warned of “land grabs”, the Guardian reported in March. In response to these concerns, local advocates created the new Lahaina community land trust to ensure that the future of the town remains in the hands of the people who’ve spent their lives there.

As a more lighthearted motion during Friday’s legislative session, lawmakers moved to make the shaka the state gesture and recognize Hawaii as its birthplace. The hand gesture – made by making a fist with the thumb and pinky raised – is sometimes known outside the islands as the “hang loose” sign associated with surf culture. People in Hawaii display the shaka to say hi and bye as well as thanks and aloha.

The Associated Press contributed reporting