Oahu's
coastline neighborhoods are under siege from illegal hotel-like
operations in their midst. The growing transient population these
businesses bring has already caused the deterioration of our
residential lifestyle, as well as more traffic, parking problems,
noise, crime, escalating property tax values and the loss of
community.
The general public has the
impression of a B&B as an elderly person renting out a room in an
old house--making just enought to get by. The truth is that
short-term vacation rental owners may be investors or even a mainland business hui.
Even if someone needed additional income from their home, they should
first look at legal alternatives such as long-term rentals, which would
help the housing shortage.
And yet the Honolulu City Council
wants to open all of Oahu's
residential areas to the industry--thereby taking even more homes and
rooms off the residential market--by legalizing additional
bed-and-breakfast homes (B&B's).
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Under
the Land Use Ordinace (LUO),
the City Department of Planning and
Permitting (DPP) is responsible for
enforcement against illegal short-term rentals. Due to a variety
of
problems--including political interference from the previous Harris
administration, under-staffing, working hours, and the departmental
enforcement policies--the DPP has not been able to project the image of
an effective agency. This led to a scourge of illegal rentals,
to which the City Council was ready to give in to and attempt better
regulations. But under new leadership and vision, the DPP has
again
become
active and enforement is increasing.
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What
is the City Council proposing now?
In
July 2005, the City Council passed two
resolutions: Resolution 05-186 and Resolution 05-187.
Both are currently under review by the DPP.
1) Resolution 05-186
will allow advertising regulations against unlicensed TVUs. It proposes
that advertising vacation rentals
without a permit number be illegal in itself. It
also calls for
heftier fines for offenders. SONHawaii supports 05-186.
2)
Resolution
05-187
repeals the 1989 ban on B&B's. This bill will encourage
immediate
island-wide mass permitting and will so overload the DPP with new
business and regulatory tasks that its
effectiveness will be crippled. SONHawaii
opposes 05-187.
These two resolutions have been
approved by the full Council and are now under review by the DPP, which
is examining the proposals before forwarding them to the Planning
Commission, which may recommend action. If recommended, the
amendments will then be
sent back to the Council for a full round of three Council and two
Committee hearings.
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City
and County of Honolulu Neighborhood Board Resolutions
SONHawai`i and
other community groups have actively fought to reclaim our
neighborhoods, gaining momentum with Oahu's coastal neighborhood
boards, who have voted (unanimously in most cases) against legalizing
vacation rentals that are currently operating illegally, and calling
for stepped up enforcement.
These neighborhood board
resolutions cleary reflect the "will of the people" --people who are
highly
impacted by illegal vacation rental operations. While these
resolutions add much-needed gravity to this issue, much more has to be
done.
We must provide the political will
and catalyst for enforcement--primarily from the City administration
and council.
Political will is created by educating people--people
who in turn will advise their elected
representives on how to act.
This can only be accomplished by educating
the public about the severe
nature of the problem and how it ultimately impacts us all.
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A
quick background on short-termcation
rentals reveals two
types: Bed and Breakfasts (B&B’s)
and Transient
Vacation Units (TVU’s), both of
which entail the provision of lodging to transient occupants for less
than 30 days, in return for compensation.
A
Bed and Breakfast (B&B) home is a detached dwelling (but
not an apartment unit) where the owner or operator occupies the same
dwelling as the transient
occupants.
A
Transient
Vacation Unit (TVU)
is a dwelling or lodging unit where the operator or owner is absent
from the premises at the time of rental. TVU’s
are the source of most complaints in residential neighborhoods.
In
1989, when
the number of B&B's and TVU's rose significantly and a deluge of
neighborhood complaints could no longer be ignored, the City and County of Honolulu banned the operation of any new
short-term rentals in residentially zoned districts. Meanwhile,
the City “grandfathered” those that had been operating
illegally--approximately
160 B&B's and hundreds of TVU's--by issuing them Nonconforming Use Certificates (NUC's).
All
B&B's must have a NUC
to operate legally. TVU's
need a NUC to operate in
residential areas; however, they do not
require a NUC if they are in
areas zoned "Resort" or "Resort Mixed Use".
According
to the City Department of
Planning and Permitting (DPP), there are currently 60 island-wide B&B’s and 942 TVU’s with NUC's (most of which
are operating in Waikiki). A recent Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) Accommodation
Study estimated 102 B&B’s and
1821 TVU’s short-term rental
operations overall. These numbers are
dramatically higher than the number of NUC's issued by the DPP.
Yet, it is clear to observers and neighbors that the number of illegal
short-term rentals--especially along Oahu's coastline--far exceeds the
HTA estimates. This is furter evidenced by blatant advertising on
the Internet and elsewhere. It is easy to surmise that an
overwhelming number of these business ventures are without a NUC (since
none have been issued in 15 years), in essence operating illegally.
For
more information on why these are detrimental to our neighborhoods and
how to determine if a rental property is a legal B&B or TVU, please
visit this website:
BnB Coalition
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SONHawai`i
Save Oahu's Neighborhoods
P.O. Box 88131 - Honolulu, HI 96830
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