Cataluna: An illegal rental by any other name is still illegal

It’s interesting to note the word choice of vacation rental owners who testified before the Honolulu City Council this week.

They didn’t say “illegal vacation rental.” Most didn’t even say “unpermitted.” They called it “home sharing,” as though what they’re doing is just like letting cousin Bernice and her kids stay with them while their house is being termite-tented.

They talked about being local business owners like they had a legit old-time storefront that had built up ties to the community over the decades by sponsoring canoe clubs, letting the high school drama club put up posters for their productions in the front window or giving free coffee to folks who shuffle in and look like a cup of coffee would help them make it through the morning.

Owners of illegal vacation rentals talked about “harsher” regulations, as though there had been any regulations in place to begin with, and as though requiring citizens to obey the law and zoning regulations is somehow “harsh.”

Many owners of illegal vacation rentals talked in expansive terms about how regulation would decimate the local economy. Never mind that taking tourism out of the tourism zones and into neighborhoods is decimating the hotel industry as well as people’s right to peace, quiet and reasonable parking at their own homes. Many of these scofflaws, these people who turned their property into lucrative businesses knowing that they were flouting the law, clearly have structured their lives around the big money they’re bringing in. They seemed to think that they have the right to do whatever they want in their homes.

Actually, in Hawaii no one has the right to do much of anything they want on their own property. You can’t run a hair salon in your house. You can’t run an unpermitted nursing home, though we all know people do. You can’t have a commercial kitchen in your kitchen without a permit, and you can’t have a car repair shop in your garage. You can’t have a poultry farm in the suburbs or a cat farm in your apartment. Sure, close your door and do your thing, but you still have to obey the law in the privacy of your own home.

Why?

Because it affects people’s rights to live in peace.

Because your neighbors have to bear the actual costs of more cars, more strangers, more traffic, less safety, higher property assessments and fewer long-term rentals available to people who actually live and work here.

As former Gov. Neil Abercrombie said when he testified the other day, “It’s not about vacation rentals. It’s about residential zoning.”

As former Mayor Mufi Hannemann said, “Look at the communities. There’s ample evidence almost every community in the state is beset by this.”

As one resident said, explaining why he would never consider setting up an illegal vacation rental in his house, “I respect my neighbors. I respect the law.”

So now what?

What matters most is enforcement.

Clamping down on illegal vacation rentals requires the urgency of a drug bust, not the passivity of making an appointment for a site inspection three months down the line.

Otherwise, we already know there are thousands who feel absolutely entitled to ignore the law.

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