Lee Cataluna: Other cities not as timid in stopping illegal rentals

In Miami Beach, the city sends compliance officers to pound on doors of illegal vacation rentals in residential neighborhoods and tell the tourists they have to get out.

On Oahu, government officials gnaw on their knuckles and complain that they just don’t have the enforcement, or the money for enforcement, or a system in place to get all the information to truly understand and manage the scope of the situation — anything to keep from making a bold decision.

In Miami Beach, fines for owners of illegal vacation rentals in residential neighborhood start — START! — at $20,000 and go up in $20,000 increments for every subsequent time they are caught.

Meanwhile, here, the out-of-control vacation rental market in residential neighborhoods keeps growing more out of control. The marketing campaigns of big online booking companies that make their money off every night a stranger sleeps next door make it look like it’s only sweet Aunty Dottie or beloved Grandpa Joe renting out a room in their hale so they can cover the mortgage, nevermind all the wealthy absentee owners who are running small hotels in small neighborhoods and along our beaches.

The New York Times ran a story in March about Miami Beach’s war with illegal short-term vacation rentals. That city prohibits rentals of less than six months and a day in many residential neighborhoods. This paragraph from the story sounds like some neighborhoods in Hawaii:

“An outsider might not notice, but locals walking through Flamingo Park point out the signs that homes are being rented out. There are the lockboxes on the sides of buildings, attached to bike racks or slightly hidden behind hedges. These boxes are where renters pick up the keys to their vacation homes. Sometimes these are the people wandering through the neighborhood looking a little lost, or the ones who ring the wrong buzzer because they aren’t quite sure where to go … ‘You get to a point where you feel like you’re living in a hotel room,’ said Kathaleen Smarsh, a resident of Flamingo Park. ‘You don’t know who is coming and going at all hours.’”

The article describes the sounds of suitcases rolling down the sidewalk, through a building’s lobby or hallways, at all hours. It describes businesses that have popped up in neighborhoods to service the illegal vacation rentals, like laundry vans parked on the street selling clean towels. This is what comes next for Hawaii: Mobile beach gear rentals; mobile moped drop-offs; convenience stores in some guy’s garage; all of Waikiki’s infrastructure built to cater to tourism migrating to quiet neighborhoods.

The article also points out that Airbnb is suing the city of Miami Beach over a rule that recently went into effect that requires platforms only to allow posts from hosts with resort tax registration and business license numbers and to remove listings in neighborhoods that don’t allow short-term rentals. Hey, Honolulu City Council, sound familiar?

Hawaii residents have fought to save beaches from development and to keep the country country. The fight is now right at our doorsteps. Keep residential residential. This is not about the Hawaii tradition of warm hospitality or the rights of people to make money off their home. It’s about maintaining neighborhoods as stable places where people live, not where tourists come for vacation.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.