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Hawaii's utility company and other defendants have agreed to pay $4 billion to the survivors of last year's wildfires on the island of Maui to settle lawsuits. The fires took place one year ago this week in the town of Lahaina. They killed more than 100 people. It also made a bad housing shortage even worse by destroying thousands of homes. The county has proposed phasing out a bunch of short-term rentals in order to free them up for long-term residents. Hawaii Public Radio's Catherine Cluett Pactol reports.
KAHUKULEA HAIKU: (Playing ukulele).
CATHERINE CLUETT PACTOL, BYLINE: It's a sunny afternoon on Maui. Locals are surfing the break, and Kahukulea Haiku (ph) is playing ukulele under the shade of a tree. Haiku is a Lahaina wildfire survivor who's been living out of hotels and his truck for most of the past year. This beach is in Kihei, a coastal town on Maui with shave ice stands, snorkel rentals, and lots of condos. Many of those are rented to tourists on a short- term basis. And a lot of locals say there's not enough housing for them.
HAIKU: We're almost starting to feel like the undesirables.
PACTOL: It's a problem that did not start with last year's fires that left about 8,000 residents displaced.
HAIKU: It was already a tough situation in Maui, right? The rent is already - was astronomical before the fire.
PACTOL: Median rent on Maui is now the highest in the country, according to a recent University of Hawaii report. Back in May, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen took action to address the housing crisis. He proposed a bill that would phase out about 7,000 of the island's short-term rentals, or roughly half.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICHARD BISSEN: Today we come together for the people of Lahaina and all of Maui County to take a bold step forward in our efforts to create urgently needed housing.
PACTOL: It's unclear just how many of the units could become available for local use. Under the proposed bill, short-term rental owners could keep their units vacant for their own vacations, sell the units, or convert them to long-term rentals.
TIM O'SHAUGHNESY: I'll give you a little tour of the grounds.
PACTOL: Tim O'Shaughnesy (ph) owns five condo units that would be affected by the new law and manages about 40 others. He moved to Maui from Philadelphia eight years ago. This ocean-front building in Kihei has studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom units. Inside, the space is clean and compact.
O'SHAUGHNESY: There is, you know, a small kitchen. This is the bathroom. It's kind of like almost like a hotel room.
PACTOL: O'Shaughnesy is opposed to the potential phase out. He thinks a lot of the units aren't big enough for families, and issues like limited parking and laundry facilities make it problematic for long term use, he says.
O'SHAUGHNESY: These places are not designed for long term rental people. They're designed as hotels for short term stays.
PACTOL: But many fire survivors, like Mikey Burke (ph) say they've been in units like this and would be happy to live there.
MIKEY BURKE: I've looked around, and I would love to be able to raise my family in something like that.
PACTOL: Burke was one of hundreds who testified during nearly 24 hours of public meetings on the issue this summer. Testimony was split. Many who support the new legislation say that Maui residents need to be prioritized over tourism.
COURTNEY LAZO: How do you look at a community that's suffering - people that have nowhere to go, people priced out of Maui, priced out of Lahaina. My family and I have been pushed out of Lahaina - and think it's OK?
PACTOL: Courtney Lazo is a 10th-generation Lahaina resident who lost her home in the fire. She's also an organizer of Lahaina Strong, a community group that has pushed for better housing options.
LAZO: People are here worried about their investment or their commission. But there are people who don't even have a first home, let alone a second, third, fourth, and fifth home.
PACTOL: Meanwhile, some property owners like Jason Gobi (ph) say that in order to cover maintenance costs and HOA fees, they'd have to charge long-term rents many locals couldn't afford.
JASON GOBI: A 643-square feet with minimal storage and one parking space really is not suitable for long-term use, and would have to rent for over $4,000 per month just to cover the break-even costs.
PACTOL: Others cited concerns about economic impacts on the hospitality industry. Leslie Brown (ph) has managed a Kihei condo for 38 years.
LESLIE BROWN: My cleaning company a family of mom, dad, and their daughter. All eight of us would lose our jobs.
PACTOL: Mayor Bisson acknowledges the phase out will come with trade-offs, especially in tax revenue, which is higher for short-term rentals.
BISSEN: I want our people to stay here, and I want their revenue. But if I have to trade one for the other, I'm going to trade the people staying here.
PACTOL: An economic study on the impacts is in progress. The Maui County Council will vote on the proposal in the coming months. If passed, the phase out would begin next summer.
For NPR News, I'm Catherine Cluett Pactol on Maui. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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