Matt Jachowski News Today

Rent control might be needed as Maui landlords continue to demand more money for limited housing to accommodate survivors of the Aug. 8 wildfires, according to officials with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement who say victims might need to consider moving off-island for a year or more.

Fire survivors are now suffering from Maui’s notoriously long permitting process and a thicket of regulations that has stalled island projects for decades.

More than four months since the deadliest wildfire in modern American history burned Lahaina to the ground, nearly 6,200 people are still looking for a place to live while their beloved Maui town is rebuilt.

Four months after the deadliest US wildfire in modern history, thousands of people have yet to find stable housing

"Is there any greater imperative in Santa Cruz County as 2023 slides into the great unknown of 2024 than housing? How much, how high, for where ... and for whom?" writes Sentinel Opinion Editor Don Miller. "In the waning light, here’s an updated dispatch from the island of Maui, where last summer I reported on the fires that destroyed much of the old whaling port of Lahaina, killing at least 100 people and leaving an estimated 7,000 people homeless."

The Maui County Council on Tuesday passed the first reading of Mayor Richard Bissen’s Bill 131 that provides 100% property tax exemptions to owners of short-term rentals, timeshares and non-owner occupied homes who rent at least one-year to Maui fire survivors.

The Maui County Council on Tuesday approved Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposal to offer a substantial tax break to homeowners who convert their short-term rentals into long-term housing for those displaced by the Aug. 8 wildfires.

A deadline is looming for many fire survivors but right now letʻs take a collective moment of grace and aloha.

As government leaders are tasked with meeting the critical need for housing in the wake of the August wildfires on Maui, one suggestion has drawn particular interest. For Maui resident, Matt Jachowski, there’s only one answer: utilizing short-term rentals and second homes while seeking federal and philanthropic dollars to fill the rent gap.

LAHAINA, Hawaii — Charles Nahale spent a restless night trying to sleep in the backseat of his pickup truck after a wildfire destroyed his home and the town of Lahaina.