WAILUKU (KHON2) — Maui County is taking action against roughly 7,000 short term rentals on Maui.
It comes one day after lawmakers passed SB 2919, allowing counties to phase them out.
On Thursday, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen stood alongside Lahaina Strong, and Maui County Councilmember Keani Rawlins-Fernandez to take action against short-term rentals under the new law being signed by Governor Josh Green on Friday.
“We come before you to announce our collective intent to phase out and repeal transient vacation rentals in the apartment district – also known as the Minatoya list,” announced Mayor Bissen during the press conference Thursday morning.
The Minatoya list is a Maui council ordinance that has protected ‘apartment zoned’ units in areas like Honokowai, Kahana, Napili and Kihei, built before 1991, to continue operating as short term rentals without the need for a permit.
Rawlins-Fernandez said investors started buying up property in these areas in the 80s.
“In response, the council in 1989 attempted to limit short-term rentals to the hotel zone where it should be,” she said. “In 1991, that council clarified the restriction on short-term rentals for all properties built after 1991 not zoned hotel.”
“The deputy corporation council Richard Minatoya authored an opinion negating the 1991 ordinance, providing an exemption to units built before March 4, 1991 allowing owners to continue profiting off the units since that time,” she continued. “In 2015, Mayor Arakawa passed a law that codified his opinion that today this bill seeks to repeal.”
“It is important to know that most, if not all of these [transient vacation rentals], impacted by this legislation were previously built and designed for workforce housing in west Maui, and my goal is to return them to their intended purpose,” explained Mayor Bissen.
He said he wants to remove the exemption which would revert roughly 2,200 west Maui units and 7,000 units on Maui to long-term housing.
“And fully discontinue transient vacation rentals use in apartment districts by July 1, 2025 for west Maui,” Mayor Bissen explained.
He said the rest of the island would have until Jan. 1, 2026 to phase out apartment-district short term rental units.
He said the need for housing is greater in west Maui which is why it would go into effect six months ahead of the rest of the island.
Mayor Bissen said he expects push-back and legal battles, but with the new state law, he said it will put the county in a better legal position.
“Of course the courts will decide ultimately, but I think the way I look at it is, these were originally built for housing and became short term rentals, so we’re trying to return them to its original state,” he said.
The proposed bill will be heard at the Maui Planning Commission at the end of June, and will need to be reviewed by the County Council for full consideration. Councilmember Rawlins-Fernandez said on Thursday the legislation would move through.
Public testimony will be heard throughout the the process.
“We expect hours of testimony, I’m sure,” said Rawlins-Fernandez. “Consistency the argument was about protecting their investment properties; their third, fourth, or fifth home when our residents have lost their only home. We are prioritizing our residents, what good are jobs if you don’t have anywhere to live? Where are workers supposed to live? They can’t clean condos if they don’t have a place to rest their head at night.”
Lahaina Strong has been occupying Kaanapali Beach since November, fighting for long-term dignified housing for displaced Maui residents. After working on the new historic legislation with Mayor Bissen and others, Lahaina Strong will end its occupation at Kaanapali Beach.
Mayor Bissen has directed the County of Maui Planning director to transmit the new bill to the Planning Commissions seeking to phase out and repeal this controversial use of TVRs, which currently allows condos, apartments and planned developments that are not hotels to operate as short-term rentals without any state or county permit.
“My proposed bill will revert all Apartment District properties to their intended long-term residential use by removing the exception provided to those properties built or approved prior to 1989, and fully discontinue Transient Vacation Rental use in Apartment Districts by July 1, 2025, for West Maui TVRs and all others in Maui County by January 1, 2026,” Mayor Bissen said.
“We may rebuild our beloved Lahaina, but if we don’t return Lahaina to the people who represent that unique community – if we don’t recognize the faces of our friends and family as we repopulate Lahaina, we will have lost this fight for our people, and for my administration and I – even one more family lost is one too many.”
“Now that our movement has secured yesterday’s passage of SB 2919 in the Hawai’i State Legislature giving our counties the authority to phase out short-term rentals, the Bissen administration and Councilmember Rawlins-Fernandez are today announcing County-level legislation that would take our demands even further and remove this exemption indefinitely — permanently restoring housing for locals across Maui,” Lahaina Strong spokesperson Paele Kiakona said. “In Lahaina alone, we have over 2,200 units on this list. These mostly off-island owners have benefited immensely from turning our apartment-zoned housing into investments, displacing working-class local families from our communities long before the fire.”
“Today, in unity with the Mayor’s administration and advisory committee, we take a huge step forward to restore dignity and hope to our families and bring our community back together,” Kiakona added. “We call on the Maui Planning Commissions and the Maui County Council to immediately support this critical bill.”