Transient Vacation Rentals

I support Mayor Kawakami’s aggressive move to work with Expedia, owners of VRBO and AIRBnB, to list only legitimate Transient Vacation Rentals in Vacation Designated Areas. Those that are illegal are already facing a fine of $10,000/day; the key to this issue is enforcement.

I believe the biggest problems contributing to the housing crisis are the non-resident TVR’s. If you own a Transient Vacation Rental with a non-conforming permit and DO NOT live on Kaua’i, then in my opinion, you have no investment in the island of Kaua’i or it’s people. Hanalei is now 50% TVR’s. Their community has been torn apart by short term rentals. I personally know of people that moved out of Hanalei because to them it’s become “Disneyland.”

In order to reduce the operation of TVRs outside of designated vacation areas, we should prevent TVR permits from being included with the sale of the property. This would keep visitors in Vacation Designated Areas (VDA), while perpetuating the family community in our neighborhoods, by transitioning TVRs into long-term residential rentals.