Owner-occupied vacation rentals benefit our community

The issue of short-term rentals on Oahu divides our community and pits neighbor against neighbor.

There is a lot of misinformation being propagated by a number of angry, vocal citizens. Owner-occupied vacation rentals (B&Bs) are a significant economic benefit to our community; specifically to shops, activity operators, restaurants, cleaning crews and support staff, to name a few.

>> Owner-operated B&Bs are typically located in single-family homes in compliance with city Department of Planning &Permitting building codes, and owners are available 24/7 for issues arising with guests.

>> Most provide on-site parking.

>> Owner-operators have a vested interest in our community and inform guests about local customs, and promote local businesses.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority 2015 Visitor Plant Inventory states: “Technology is driving growth of Individually Advertised Units by connecting individual condo- minium units and houses with visitors. Based on pricing and geographical location data, it appears that individually advertised units may also be fulfilling segments of market demand that have been underserved by Hawaii’s traditional visitor accommodations.”

Issues often cited as main reasons to ban short-term rentals, such as noise and parking, are actually a larger issue with longer-term renters than short-term renters. Police records and personal interviews with police have indicated no instances of any noise complaints for owner-occupied properties, and guests invariably rent one car per rental family, as opposed to one car per person for long-term rentals.

In his April 7 commentary, “Airbnb bid threatens tourism industry and zoning laws,” Eric Gill insinuated that all operators are trying to avoid tax responsibility by not filing required taxes.

This may be the case for some out-of-state or corporate owners of vacation rentals that House Bill 1850 tries to address, but this is far from the case with local owner-operators who treat rentals as a legitimate business.

Some B&B operators may have been reluctant to register for tax licenses for fear of being targeted by misinformed vocal residents opposing short-term rentals.Licensing with regulation would be an effective way to force them to comply.

Hawaii’s Lodging and Tourism Association states in its priorities for 2016: “Rather than outlaw these transient vacation units or raise the TAT (the state transient accommodations tax), the state and county governments should collaborate on collecting the millions of dollars in taxes.”

Hawaii’s Department of Taxation officials testified that they “support the intent” of HB 1850 with minor suggestions — allowing brokers such as Airbnb to collect taxes directly would facilitate collection at the source. A recent estimate of the expected taxes from individually advertised rental units, if all were paying taxes, is $165.6 million annually. This is not an insignificant amount.

Regarding the cost of housing, we live in a beach community whose beaches have been rated No. 1 in the U.S., and people want to live here. Most owner-operated B&Bs consist of a studio or at most two rooms and are not appropriate for long-term rental. Additionally, military housing subsidies have a tremendous impact on rental and housing prices.

The community needs a comprehensive plan for addressing this, rather than putting blame on one sector.

Tourism is not the cause the homelessness crisis. For many, tourism provides income allowing them to maintain housing. Without tourism, housing prices, city income and state tax revenue would fall dramatically.

Owner-operators are your neighbors and friends, and they have a vested interest in our community. In order to keep our economy and environment healthy, we need to adapt and revise our housing expectations. Let’s face this issue realistically and fairly and regulate owner-occupied B&Bs.