Maui's mayor proposed phasing out vacation rentals to tackle a severe housing crisis worsened by the 2023 wildfires, which destroyed over 3,000 units. Economists from the University of Hawaii warn that while this could improve housing affordability, it may also reduce jobs, income, and tax revenues, with a significant decline in visitor spending. Mayor Richard Bissen acknowledged the economic model's limitations in capturing residents' real experiences of housing insecurity and cultural displacement, emphasizing the need for a deeper understanding of the proposal's implications. The Maui County Council is expected to review the proposal in the coming weeks.
Trey Gordner, a researcher from the University of Hawaii, highlighted the trade-offs of the mayor's proposal: 'The policy would increase housing affordability somewhat at the cost of jobs, incomes and tax revenues.'
Mayor Richard Bissen emphasized the personal impact of housing issues: 'They fail to acknowledge the cultural loss we face when our people are forced to leave when generations of knowledge, tradition, and aloha are displaced from the very communities that shaped them.'
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