A Maui County Council committee will hold a public meeting on a proposal by Mayor Richard Bissen to roll back thousands of transient vacation rental units in apartment districts back to long-term residential rentals.

The Housing and Land Use Committee is scheduled to hold a public meeting on the proposal at 10 a.m. Monday in the Maui County Council Chambers.

Bissen has said the proposed legislation is meant to be pro-resident and not anti-tourism.

The mayor has said tourism is welcome, but not at the cost of displacing those who call Maui home.

The bill would ban transient vacation rentals in the apartment districts. In presenting the bill, Bissen noted how the county is in a housing crisis that has become increasingly severe, especially since the August 2023 wildfires destroyed 5,400 households and displaced 12,000 people, according to the mayor’s office. The mayor’s proposal includes the removal of long-standing exceptions for pre-1989 properties known as the “Minatoya list.”

Mayor Bissen submitted a proposed amendment to provide a three-year amortization period so properties that wish to continue operating as transient vacation rentals could seek rezoning as hotels.

Maui County spokesperson Laksmi Abraham said the transient vacation rentals in apartment districts have distorted the long-term housing market by removing residential units from local use, effectively functioning as hotels and displacing local families.

However, there is opposition to the plan.

“People bought the units with the understanding they could be vacation rentals and to change that isn’t fair,” said Mari Loftus, a vacation rental manager.

Loftus explained that many vacation rentals appeal to middle- to upper-class visitors with families looking for a place with a kitchen and two to three bedrooms.

“It would affect people who have lots of family-oriented activities,” she said of the proposal.

In the aftermath of the wildfires, fire-impacted households have continued paying 50% to 60% higher rents, according to the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization known as UHERO published this year.

UHERO warned that converting more than 6,000 transient vacation rental units in the apartment districts could lead to a decline of 15% in visitor spending and a loss of 1,900 jobs and as bad as 3,800 jobs.

UHERO said that TVRs account for 21% of all housing units in Maui County and there are policy alternatives that would have less of an impact on TVRs, such as higher property taxes for the category. UHERO said some TVR owners may decide not to rent their units to residents and leave them vacant for their own part-time use if the bill is enacted.

“Without additional policies, some units may remain vacant or be resold as second homes rather than entering the local housing market,” the study said.

The study also suggested raising taxes on properties that remain vacant for most of the year, particularly those held as vacation homes or for speculation.

The Maui County Council recently raised the tax rates for unoccupied luxury homes effective July 1.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect when and how the proposal could take effect.