Maui wildfire survivors camp on the beach to push mayor to convert vacation rentals into housing

LAHAINA, Maui (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.