Maui News

Bills to curb rent increases referred to committees, but no hearings scheduled yet

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Signs were placed outside the Kalana O Maui building in Wailuku as testimony was heard inside on the proposed phase-out of transient vacation rentals. Bills pending in the state Legislature would limit landlords’ ability to raise rents for long-term tenants. (6.25.24) PC: Wendy Osher

Bills have been referred to committees in both chambers of the Hawaiʻi State Legislature to limit the amount landlords can raise rents for tenants at a time of desperate housing shortages and renters having few, if any, options if they can’t afford demands for higher monthly rent payments.

But neither House Bill 693 or Senate Bill 1056 has been scheduled for a committee hearing 20 calendar days into this year’s lawmaking session.

The bills would mandate that no landlord, over a 12-month period, would be able to increase the gross rental rate of a dwelling unit by more than the lesser of (a) 7%, plus the percentage change in the cost of living over a 12-month period; or (b) 10%, provided that “if the annual allowable increase does not completely cover a landlord’s yearly increase in operating and maintenance expenses for a property, a landlord may increase the base rent up to an additional 7%.”

The bills report that, according to the American Community Survey, median rent in Hawaiʻi was $1,868 in 2022, the highest in the nation and $600 more than the national average.

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According to recent reports, typical rents on Maui have risen far higher to more than $3,400.

“This has serious impacts on economic and housing security for the approximately 40% of Hawaiʻi households who rent,” the bills says.

Also, to the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization, in 2024, roughly 56% of renters were rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on rent. Of those rent burdened households, 28% were severely burdened, meaning that they spend more than half of the income on rent.

According to Aloha United Way, 53% of families in Maui County in 2024 were either in poverty or ALICE households, which means Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed; or, more simply, families can’t make ends meet. ALICE households in Maui County climbed 9 percentage points since 2022, the numbers worsened by the wildfires in 2023.

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The bills include a legislative finding that average rents rose roughly 11% between April 2023 and April 2024, “with some markets experiencing much more drastic and disruptive increases. Unexpected and drastic rent increases can be highly detrimental to the financial stability and housing security of tenants, even resulting in displacement and homelessness.”

The House bill has been referred to the Consumer Protection & Commerce; Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs; and Finance committees. Upcountry Rep. Kyle Yamashita is Finance Committee chair; and Rep. Mahina Poepoe (Moloka‘i, Lāna‘i, Kaho‘olawe, portion of Kahului, Ha‘ikū, Pe‘ahi, Huelo, Nāhiku, Hāna and Kīpahulu) is vice chair of the Judiciary committee.

The measure was introduced by House Reps. Tina Nakada Grandinetti, Lisa Marten and Amy Perruso of Oʻahu, and Jeanne Kapela of Hawaiʻi Island.

And, the Senate bill has advanced to the Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee, chaired by Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole of Windward Oʻahu, and vice chaired by Sen. Carol Fukunaga of urban Honolulu.

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The Senate version of the bill was introduced by Sens. Karl Rhoads and Kurt Fevella, both of Oʻahu.

The bills that cap percentages of annual rent increases are part of a package of bills from the Hawaiʻi Working Families Caucus.

Members of the caucus are Reps. Jeanne Kapela, Tina Nakada Grandinetti, Kanani Souza, Amy Perruso, Della Au Belatti, Andrew Takuya Garrett, Terez Amato, Kirstin Kahala, Matthias Kusch, Garner Shimizu, Chris Todd, Ikaika Hussey, Kim Coco Iwamoto and Sens. Karl Rhoads and Kurt Fevella.

Brian Perry
Brian Perry worked as a staff writer and editor at The Maui News from 1990 to 2018. Before that, he was a reporter at the Pacific Daily News in Agana, Guam. From 2019 to 2022, he was director of communications in the Office of the Mayor.
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