HAWAII COUNTY SEEKS TO REGULATE HOMESTAYS, FARMSTAYS AND VACATION RENTALS

On Monday November 21 County of Hawaii Counselors Ashley Kierkiewicz and Heather Kimball presented a draft policy to give the Department of Planning control of hosted transient accommodations in Hawaii County.

Hosted transient accommodations are rooms or ohanas that families rent to visitors on a short term basis.  A typical host might rent a bedroom in their home or an outbuilding on their farm.  Importantly - hosted rentals are not owned by absentee landlords.  The hosts are kamaʻāina and live on site and rent out part of their home.

More than 7,500 families here in Hawaii County depend on transient accommodation rentals to make ends meet every month.  Seven thousand five hundred families.  This includes thousands of service providers who clean, maintain and manage rentals.

Without this income many of these families stand to lose their livelihoods and, in some cases, their homes.  If passed as written, this bill will make some families homeless and force others to leave the island.

Here are the Big Island Vacation Rental Association we are working to engage with our elected officials to listen to us and collaborate to develop a regulatory framework that serves everyone:  owners, service providers, neighbors and visitors alike.

If you own and operate a transient accommodation rental or are a service provider for a transient accommodation rental please join the Big Island Vacation Rental Association today!