In a statement framing proposed changes to Honolulu’s short-term rental ordinance, Dean Uchida, who heads the city Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP), said the sharp decline in visitors staying in residential-neighborhood rentals during the pandemic “reminded everyone what life was like before the proliferation” of illegal units.

While prepandemic demand for vacation rentals delivered more businesses and jobs to these neighborhoods, it also increased traffic, strained infrastructure and tightened rental housing supply. In 2019, when a record-breaking 10.5 million visitors came to Hawaii, some 3 million stayed in illegal vacation rentals, most of which are on Oahu.

Aiming to better manage tourism while simultaneously addressing housing needs for residents, the DPP is now rightly calling for amendments to the 2-year-old ordinance. At a news conference Monday, Mayor Rick Blangiardi said: “We have a housing crisis that, more than anything, the short-term vacation rentals have really impacted … and taken a lot of units off the market that could be available to local people.”

In August 2019, the city enacted Bill 89, which cracks down on the advertising of illegal rentals, and initiated plans to issue roughly 1,700 new hosted vacation rental permits — tailored for bed-and-breakfast operations. As recently as last month, the intent was to divide them among eight City Council districts.

But a new bill, slated for a Wednesday public hearing before the Planning Commission, scraps plans for expanding that residential inventory. Instead, new permits would go only to short-term rentals in specified resort areas such as Kuilima, Ko Olina and Waikiki.

There’s little doubt that the proposed amended course will be slammed by some who had been awaiting a lottery for new residential B&B permits. Some supporters of residential expansion maintain that operating a rental is critical to making the permit-holder’s financial ends meet, and that the business can bring economic boost to the surrounding community.

But heavily outweighing those arguments is the city’s responsibility to see to it that neighborhoods remain properly zoned, and that housing units are used for homes.

Uchida said short-term rentals “are not consistent with the land uses that are intended for our residential zoned areas,” as they decrease the supply of long-term housing for residents, and increase prices and rents. Further, given that the rentals attract a revolving-door of tourist guests, in too many cases they’re “disruptive to the character and fabric of our residential neighborhoods.”

Under DPP’s proposal, the city’s current inventory of just over 800 rentals — hosted B&Bs and unhosted transient vacation units (TVUs) — would continue operating. And in a reasonable effort to further nudge rental operators to make units available to residents, the time limit for a short-term rental stay would be bumped up to 180 days (about six months) from the current typical 30-day limit.

Given concerns about the low level of enforcement on illegal vacation rentals, DPP’s vision to fund a more robust enforcement branch — in part, with tax revenue generated by higher tax rates imposed on the new resort area units — is a welcome move. City leaders also should seriously consider City Council Chairman Tommy Waters’ suggestion to impose a higher tax on unhosted TVUs in residential areas — as they usually involve renting an entire house.

Uchida has correctly observed that COVID-19 prompted a “hard reset” in terms of how Hawaii aspires to manage tourism and related issues. Honolulu Hale, in tandem with the City Council, must now summon the political will to adopt and effectively implement the DPP’s proposed common-sense course corrections.