HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-15 Bill 121 David Anderson From: david anderson
To: LPCtestimonv
Subject: Testimony about Short Term Rental bill.
Date: Monday,April 15,2024 3:24:32 PM
Hi,
I am what I believe many of you see as a villain, a mainland homeowner who legally vacation
rents his home out. I own a home on the water on the Big Island. We have a business on the
mainland and can only live part time here in Hawaii. Maybe It would be better if I was like my
neighbor to the left of us, he does not rent his home to vacationers. He just visits his Hawaiian
home when he can, he also lives on the mainland,but he can afford his home without renting it
out. We cannot.
Or maybe it would be better to be like my neighbor to the right, she is a native Hawaiian who
owns a three-unit apartment. She has had the place up for sale for three years, leaving two
apartments vacant. All three were vacant for two years, easier to sell vacant I guess,till the
homeless started squatting in her yard and peeing in our back yard. And she decided to have a
renter to keep them away.
I cleared drains for a living for 13 years till I could afford to buy a boat that I lived on while I
used it for charters and my wife and I built up our whale watching business in California from
scratch. My wife and I eventually saved up and bought a dream home in Hawaii. But the vibe
we get from the government and some locals now is go home. Choke Howlies, is a bumper
sticker I have seen. "I know it means too many Howlies..." But the real meaning is felt.
Aloha spirit is in embers. I hope it will come back. Some still have it,thank God.
There seems to be an unproven belief that getting rid of the Vacation rentals will help solve
the affordable housing shortage, Harvard recently did a study, one of the few available; it
proved this does not work. I suggest everyone read it before getting out the pitchforks and
torches and going after vacation rental owner's legal rights. See the link below:
What Does Banning Short-Term Rentals Really Accomplish?
hAps://hbr.org/2024/02/what-does-banning-short-term-rentals-really-accomplish
Another unproven belief, I heard a Hawaiian politician recently say,that homes in Hawaii
went up in price over$500,000 during the pandemic, and he blamed Vacation Rentals. They
are banned where we live in California and homes went up even more than that here. Maybe
cancer is caused by the evil Vacation rentals too. The Governor uses expletives to describe
them. They have become a scapegoat for every problem.
We donated a lot of money to help victims of the fire in Maui, I wept when I heard the news,
however... attempting to force people to rent month to month to help these poor victims is
fascist and un-American. Encourage,yes. I realize Hawaii County is not doing this; however
you still want to take away the right's we homeowners have to rent our homes out.
No, if we leave and sell our place and stop coming to Hawaii because you won't let us rent our
home short term any more, even in the hotel zone where we are located, it will not help
anyone needing a rental home. The flood insurance alone on our house is more than anyone
would want to pay, for affordable rent. ... some rich person who can afford to own it,without
renting it out,will buy, and likely it will be another mainlander. And the house will sit empty
much of the year and all the families who currently enjoy our home and spend hundreds of
thousands of dollars at local restaurants and whale watching and fishing and luaus etc.,will
not stay at a hotel because they don't like it. They will just go elsewhere if all the Vacation
rentals are banned, eventually, because you gave the counties this power. Please don't.
Warmest regards,
David Anderson