The Honolulu City Council’s Zoning and Planning Committee is considering legislation that would decimate a critical component of our local economy and eliminate jobs across the island. Bill 41 (CD1), a policy to ban short-term rentals for anything less than 90 days, was heard at the Zoning and Planning Committee and will return to the full Council this Wednesday for further discussion.

Unfortunately, we suspect the hearings will follow a familiar pattern: Council members failed to take community input into account and are moving forward without the due diligence this issue calls for. Done properly, short-term rental regulations can be both effective and beneficial for the island. An outright ban would not solve community concerns; it would, however, harm the Oahu residents that City Council is trying to protect.

I have owned my oceanfront Kailua home since 2006 and have been an active short-term rental owner since 2009. I live in my rental for about a quarter of the year, and my family stays on the property for much of the remaining months. Renting to one tenant per 30-day period has allowed me to afford this home and its significant maintenance costs while giving back to the community. My neighbors are full-time Kailua residents who are fully supportive of my rental efforts and have encouraged me to continue renting to responsible guests, as they recognize the substantial benefits that properly managed vacation rentals offer to the community.

Like most short-term rental owners, I screen my renters to make sure that they are aware of neighborhood concerns. Being respectful of my neighbors is an issue that I take seriously when selecting tenants, since the city’s enforcement of noise and parking violations is quite lax.

In my 12 years of renting, I have only experienced a single bad tenant who treated my property as a “party house,” and this was a local resident — not a visitor from the mainland. That said, the City Council should absolutely develop a sound process for enforcing violations of current regulations which prohibit unruly neighbors, loud parties and unkempt properties. I want to keep party houses out of my community just as much as my neighbors do.

But if the City Council were to adopt an ordinance redefining short-term rental periods as 90 days rather than the current 30-day guidance, it would eliminate any of the benefits that my property provides my family, my neighbors, and the local businesses that service my home. Outside of the tax contributions my vacation rental provides directly to the county each month, it also employs housekeepers, pool cleaners, window washers, gardening crews, pest control, painters, plumbers and electricians. The positive economic impacts don’t stop there, as my guests frequently spend at local shops and restaurants.

The argument also has been made against vacation rentals that they make housing unaffordable to Hawaii residents. There is no evidence showing this to be the case. In fact, unaffordable housing is a problem created by multiple reasons but primarily the inability to build to new housing due to difficult regulations, rising construction costs and zoning restrictions. Blaming high housing costs on vacation rentals is not an argument supported by any evidence. Eliminating vacation rentals, as Bill 41 will do, will not make Hawaii housing affordable.

Good owners lead to good renters, and good renters bring value to the entire community. But redefining the “short-term” rental period to 90 days would eliminate any possibility that vacation rentals can give support to our recovering economy.

If the City Council focuses its efforts on enforcing violations of irresponsible vacation rental managers instead of banning rentals outright, it would be a win-win for Honolulu.

Richard Chong is a Kailua resident and vacation rental owner.