#housing
First Hawaiian Bank parcels in Lānaʻi City on Maui Council’s July 8 regular meeting agenda
Maui County Council members are set to consider accepting two parcels of land in Lānaʻi City that had been the site of First Hawaiian Bank’s Lānaʻi branch for a century before it closed at the end of June last year. Ready for consideration on the Council’s July 8 agenda, resolution 25-122 would authorize the acceptance […]
Update: Council panel recesses vacation rental deliberations until July 23
The Maui County Council’s Housing and Land Use Committee reconvened its deliberations on Bill 9 at 3:43 p.m. Wednesday after a closed executive session that went on for more than six hours. Later, the panel recessed until 9 a.m. July 23.
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ 656-acre project of farms, homes, public spaces in Hāna moves forward
Community members say there aren’t enough Hawaiian homestead opportunities in East Maui and hope the project can ease the burden on multigenerational households living under one roof.
Maui County Council voted to urgently close Holomua Road for safety reasons. One year later, it’s still open
Gates to restrict access to the road could be installed anywhere from six months to a year or more. As they sit in limbo, houseless community members living there worry where they’ll go next.
A `promise to restore balance’: Mayor Bissen makes his case for vacation rental phase-out
Citing Maui’s severe post-wildfire housing crisis, the Bissen administration presented its formal case to a County Council committee to phase out approximately 6,000 short-term vacation rentals mostly in West and South Maui. “We simply can’t build fast enough to meet the scale of demand we’re facing,” Mayor Richard Bissen told members of the Housing and […]
Residential building that survived Lahaina fire on Front Street set to reopen later this month
Lahaina Roads, which has only seven units owned by permanent residents, reopens at a pivotal time as the Maui County Council prepares to decide on a bill that would ban short-term rentals in certain apartment districts, including Lahaina Roads.
Homeless community is back 4 years after clearing of Amala Place. What will Maui County do this time?
County is already removing some trash but says it is all consensual, and nobody is being forcibly removed.
Concerns over Trump’s federal funding cuts push Maui County Council to bigger budget than mayor’s
The $1.56 billion budget, which is $55 million more than Mayor Richard Bissen’s, is up for first reading today.
‘Where’s the money?’ Applicants wait for funds from Maui County program to help build ‘ohana housing
In 2023, the Maui County Council put aside $2.75 million to help families build ʻohana units, but problems with the program have stalled the awarding of grants.
House Democrats celebrate passage and funding of Majority Package Bills
House Democrats celebrated the successful advancement of the 2025 House Majority Package on Wednesday, with all seven bills now either passing final reading in both legislative chambers, adopted through companion legislation, or funded through the state budget. All measures now await the governor’s signature.
9 projects with over 800 housing units could get funding from Maui County for construction, rising costs
Maui County has $43.5 million to spend in its Affordable Housing Fund for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The funds would help with planning and construction for new projects and repairs for aging ones.
Decline in West Maui water supply means new housing projects will have to wait
Maui County is hoping to bring another well online by this summer, but it would be limited to temporary housing projects and homes rebuilt after the 2023 wildfire.
Reflecting on pandemic five years later, Maui hospital officials say crisis prepared them for fires, future emergencies
In the pandemic, Maui Health had to run an emergency operations center, set up community clinics, tap into other health care facilities for assistance and communicate better with staff and the community.
Mayor Bissen responds to UHERO analysis of vacation rental phase-out economic impacts
Mayor Richard Bissen and his Communications Office have provided point-by-point responses to Monday’s release of the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization’s analysis of the mayor’s proposed phase-out of thousands of vacation rentals in apartment-zoned districts. The phase-out proposal has gone through Maui County planning commissions. Now, it’s pending before the Maui County Council, which […]
UHERO analysis of vacation rental phase-out forecasts mixed results, widespread impacts
While Maui County’s proposed vacation rental phase-out in apartment-zoned districts could potentially unlock more than 6,000 transient vacation rental units for residential housing, the “bold attempt to rebalance Maui’s housing market” also risks widespread economic disruption, including 1,900 job layoffs and a $900 million loss in visitor spending, according to the University of Hawaiʻi Economic […]
As property values climb, Maui County eyes lower tax rates for resident homeowners
Some property owners are seeing increases by as much as 50%, and even with a tax rate cut, they may still see a higher bill.
UHERO: Persistent income, employment, housing challenges 1.5 years after the Maui wildfires
Nearly a year and a half after the devastating August 2023 wildfires, new survey results from the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization (UHERO) highlight persistent housing unaffordability, elevated poverty and unemployment rates, and ongoing economic hardship among fire-impacted households on Maui. Launched in August 2024, in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, the Maui Recovery Survey: Housing and Jobs is designed to […]
UHERO study: reveals ‘debilitating impact’ of construction defect litigation on housing access in Hawaiʻi
The Hawaiʻi HomeOwnership Center collaborated with key stakeholders to release a new, independently-commissioned report Monday examining the effects of construction defect litigation on Hawaiʻi’s housing market—first-time homebuyers, current homeowners, builders, and the overall housing industry.
Flip-flopping tariffs create confusion, price uncertainty for builders in Lahaina
Contractors worry a rise in costs could make it harder for people to afford rebuilding burned homes.
House majority bills cross over to Senate
The Hawaiʻi House of Representatives has approved all seven bills in the House Majority Package on third reading ahead of the first crossover deadline on Thursday. The bills move on to the Senate for further consideration.
