City Council Zoning Chairman Ikaika Anderson is encouraging colleagues and the public to offer ways to improve city regulation of short-term vacation rentals on Oahu.
Anderson said he is asking Council colleagues and Mayor Kirk Caldwell to "submit legislation, their ideas and their suggestions" by Feb. 2 so that proposed legislation can be drafted to address the thorny issue involving transient vacation units, or TVUs. He also urged Oahu residents to contact their Council members to share their views and suggestions.
Anderson said he hopes to have new laws addressing the issue in place by the end of the year.
A three-day series in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last week detailed how illegal vacation rental units have been allowed to flourish. Preliminary data from a recent Hawaii Tourism Authority study show there may be 4,411 unregistered vacation rental units on Oahu.
The city Department of Planning and Permitting now has on file 789 TVUs and 39 bed-and-breakfast establishments.
The rise in illegal rentals has raised criticism that they disrupt the peace and gobble up parking and other infrastructure in neighborhoods where they operate, while likely sidestepping hotel room and general excise taxes. Critics also say the vacation rentals take away badly needed housing from Oahu residents. Some TVU operators maintain that they would get the required permits if the city eases restrictions passed in the 1980s aimed at curbing short-term rentals. Operators say they bring an infusion of visitors into local businesses.
"This issue has been very complex for many years," Anderson told reporters at a news conference held Friday. "If this were an easy issue to solve, it would have been solved a long time ago."
Besides leading the Zoning and Planning Committee, Anderson represents the Council district that includes Kailua, one of two areas believed to have the highest number of short-term vacation rentals. The other is the North Shore.
Despite being at the forefront of the issue, Anderson said he has no clear stance personally on how to proceed on the issue. "At this point the only thing that’s clear is there is no solid, definitive answer as to how to solve this problem," he said. "I’m not going to stand up here today and come to any predetermined conclusion or be closed-minded on any proposal that comes forward either from my colleagues, their communities or from the mayor."
Anderson did express frustration with one aspect of the short-term vacation rental puzzle.
The Department of Planning and Permitting has at most 14 inspectors tasked with monitoring not just vacation rentals, but checking everything from building and electrical code violations to dilapidated sidewalks. "That’s been the issue; that’s been a lot of the issue," he said. "We’ve talked to DPP about allocating more money for additional inspectors, and the department has told us that that’s not the issue. But it hasn’t been made clear to the Council either as to what exactly the issue is from (the department’s) standpoint."
