The Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice released a study in March that shows that the number of vacation rentals in our state has increased by 35 percent in the past two years alone. We now live in a state where one in every 24 homes is a vacation rental. It’s most prolific on the Neighbor Islands—in Lahaina, for example, one in three homes is now available for short-term rental for visitors. And while we tend to think of those as people renting out rooms in otherwise inhabited homes, that’s not the case. A full 93 percent of those rentals are for entire houses.

The Appleseed report shows that statewide, 27 percent of home sales are to nonresidents. In a time when housing prices are extremely high, we see 43 percent of Hawaiʻi residents renting. And more and more long-term rental options are converted to short-term rentals. VRBO and Airbnb make it easy.

Tourism is vital to our state’s economy; however, the study states that while we do see some economic benefit from spending by tourists who rent these homes (as well as taxes incurred), the cost to our economy and residents is often considered greater.