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Local people losing out when it comes to housing

I have a family member who works at a local business with hundreds of employees. It saddens her to no end that more than half the employees work 40- to 48-hour shifts and then go to their nighttime jobs and also have a weekend job just to make ends meet.

The same employees then go home to their (what’s the new catchy phrase) multigenerational homes, which I say is only out of desperation to survive on Maui.

We have people coming from the Mainland to purchase their piece of paradise only to turn around and join community associations like Maui “No” Tomorrow and the Sierra clubs, which generally want no more of anything!

Again, the local people lose out. Our island’s local community needs to stick together and get out and vote for people who represent our locals, hear your concerns and demand change.

We need to declare an emergency for affordable housing and have the federal government step in and say enough is enough! We also have all these candidates up for election all expressing the same concerns just to get your vote, but ask any of them for their solutions and you get the same old nothing for a solution.

The county is expending so much energy to seek out people who are trying to make extra money by renting out a small portion of their house to help out while we have an all-time high for hotel rooms exceeding $649 per night. That’s insane.

Steve Kear

Kihei

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