Current:Home > NewsMaui wildfire survivors camp on the beach to push mayor to convert vacation rentals into housing -CapitalTrack
Maui wildfire survivors camp on the beach to push mayor to convert vacation rentals into housing
View
Date:2025-04-25 20:58:43
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — A group of Lahaina wildfire survivors is vowing to camp on a popular resort beach until the mayor uses his emergency powers to shut down unpermitted vacation rentals and make the properties available for residents in desperate need of housing.
Organizers with the group Lahaina Strong are focusing on 2,500 vacation rental properties they’ve identified in West Maui that don’t have the usual county permits to be rented out for less than 30 days at a time. For years their owners have legally rented the units to travelers anyway because the county granted them an exemption from the standard rules.
Lahaina Strong says the mayor should use his emergency powers to suspend this exemption.
“I’m kind of at the point where I’m like ‘too bad, so sad,’” said organizer Jordan Ruidas. “We never knew our town was going to burn down and our people need housing,”
The group says they are staying on Kaanapali Beach, exercising their Native Hawaiian rights to fish 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They planted fishing poles in the sand and are calling their action “Fishing for Housing.”
Lance Collins, a Maui attorney, said the mayor has the authority to suspend the county ordinance that has allowed the 2,500 short-term vacation rentals. Similar action was taken during the COVID-19 pandemic when Hawaii’s governor prohibited landlords from raising rents and when both the federal and state governments banned evictions, Collins said.
“Temporary alterations to the market to protect the common good and the welfare of our community as a whole is permitted on a temporary basis in the face of an emergency,” he said.
Permanently eliminating the exemption would require the county council to pass new legislation.
Ruidas said the 2,500 units at issue could house a large share of the 7,000 Lahaina residents who are still staying in hotels months after the Aug. 8 fire destroyed their town.
Vacationers have other options for places to stay, but Lahaina’s residents don’t, she said.
Maui, like much of Hawaii, had a severe housing shortage even before the fire killed 100 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures. The blaze only amplified the crisis.
The U.S. government, through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been putting survivors up in hotel rooms. They are also helping people pay rent, but the housing shortage means many survivors can’t find apartments or homes to move into.
West Maui is one of the state’s biggest tourist destinations, second only to Waikiki. Just north of historic Lahaina, large hotels and timeshare properties line a miles-long stretch of white sand beach in the communities of Kaanapali and Napili-Honokowai. Condominiums there are rented to vacationers on a short-term basis.
At Kaanapali Beach during a recent weekday, about a dozen people sat under tents talking, eating lunch and explaining what they were doing to tourists who stopped to ask. Upside down Hawaiian flags, a sign distress, billowed in gusty winds.
Ruidas said the group will stay until the mayor suspends the vacation property exemptions.
“We’re at the point where we’re going to fight for everything and anything because a lot of us feel like we have nothing. We have nothing to lose,” she said.
Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement that he is considering all options, but declaring a moratorium on short-term rentals would invite legal challenges and could have unintended consequences. His office is working with property managers who handle a significant number of short-term rentals, and Bissen said he has been encouraged by their willingness to cooperate.
“Shared sacrifice is necessary at this crucial time as we work to incentivize interim housing,” Bissen said.
Some in the tourism industry support the residents’ protest.
“We thank them for what they’re doing because in order for us to even think of tourism, we need our workers,” said Kawika Freitas, director of public and cultural relations at the Old Lahaina Luau.
Freitas’ company puts on shows featuring traditional Hawaiian music, dance and food. The business is still standing, but the company says decisions about reopening depend on when employees and the Lahaina community are ready.
Freitas told a recent Native Hawaiian convention that Maui’s people will leave if they don’t have housing and will be replaced by workers from out of state.
“And all of a sudden, the beauty and what Maui stands for is not there,” Freitas said. “We need to get our people back into housing.”
veryGood! (1)
prev:'Most Whopper
next:Average rate on 30
Related
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- Olivia Culpo Reveals Her Non-Negotiable for Christian McCaffrey Wedding
- Odell Beckham Jr. says goodbye to Baltimore in social media post
- New York moves to update its fracking ban to include liquid carbon-dioxide as well as water
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Judge denies Apple’s attempt to dismiss a class-action lawsuit over AirTag stalking
- Love is Blind's Chelsea Blackwell Shares Update on Where She Stands With Jimmy Presnell
- Gannett news chain says it will stop using AP content for first time in a century
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- Rapper Phat Geez killed in North Philadelphia shooting, no arrests made yet, police say
Ranking
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- Why 10 Things I Hate About You Actor Andrew Keegan Finally Addressed Cult Leader Claims
- Beyoncé Reveals She Made Cowboy Carter After “Very Clear” Experience of Not Feeling Welcomed
- Taylor Swift's Eras Tour crowd caused earthquake-like tremors. These 5 songs shook SoFi Stadium the most.
- Costco membership growth 'robust,' even amid fee increase: What to know about earnings release
- Jimmie Allen's former manager agrees to drop sexual assault lawsuit, stands by accusation
- Princess Kate's photograph of Queen Elizabeth flagged as 'digitally enhanced' by Getty
- Lollapalooza lineup 2024: SZA, Blink-182, The Killers among headliners
Recommendation
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
Tennessee nurse practitioner known as ‘Rock Doc’ gets 20 years for illegally prescribing opioids
Trump's lawyers say it's a practical impossibility to secure $464 million bond in time
Key questions as Trump hurtles toward deadline to pay $454 million fraud penalty
Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey 'ejected' from Savannah Bananas baseball game
North Korea resumes missile tests days after U.S., South Korea conclude military drills
What are seed oils? What you need to know about the food group deemed the 'hateful eight'