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Thank you, Gov. Josh Green, for having stood in the face of substantial opposition regarding your decision to re-open West Maui in the wake of the Lahaina fire.
To have kept West Maui closed to visitors indefinitely would have added more economic burden to the already disastrous and long-term effects of the cataclysmic fire.
It's both sad and disheartening to see friends born and raised in Maui making the difficult decision to leave their island home. The Lahaina fire made a long-standing workforce housing crisis much worse.
The problem can be traced back to the advent short-term vacation rentals. The financial equation/rationale is a simple one: home and condo owners can make three to four times weekly compared to leasing by the year.
Unfortunately, the fall-out to that equation is what we've been seeing for years now; a situation that's only been magnified by the fire: the workforce migrating to more affordable housing on the mainland due to an increasingly untenable housing reality for those of us who live and work in Maui.
The solution is to permanently ban short-term rentals in our islands. Almost overnight, the supply of housing for folks who live and work in Maui would be restored while rents would likely be reduced based on the principle of supply and demand.
Doing so would go a long way in restoring balance to the local rental market.
There are more than enough hotels and time-share towers on the island; homes and condos are for residents, not visitors.
Carrll Robilotta
Lahaina