The organizer of Lahaina Strong supports Gov. Josh Green’s push to convert short-term vacation rentals in West Maui into long-term housing for survivors of the Aug. 8 wildfires and move them out of hotels, urging legislators to also find a way to use conversions to help fill the statewide need for 50,000 affordable housing units.

Green said Monday in his State of the State address that he wants 3,000 owners of short-term rentals on Maui to take advantage of an 18-month reprieve in county property taxes and above-market rental rates by March 1 to house 3,000 families, or he will issue a moratorium on short-term rentals.

As of Friday, 1,367 property owners had voluntarily agreed to convert their units. Green sees the push to convert Maui’s 27,000 short-term rentals as the quickest way to move wildfire survivors out of Maui hotels — and the beginning of a larger effort to help solve Hawaii’s overall need for more housing.

Courtney Lazo of Lahaina Strong praised the move to convert short-term rentals for survivors, saying the organization will work to get measures supporting the effort passed in the Legislature this session.

“When the fires swept through our town, the quickest responses came from within our Hawaii community — not some outside source — and it reminded us that we already have so much of what we need here in our islands to tackle our toughest challenges,” Lazo said Tuesday in a statement. “For months now, we have been urging the Governor that the same is true for solving our housing crisis: whether it is the acute crisis of ensuring dignified interim housing for the over 5,000 community members still living in hotels, or the more systemic housing crisis in Hawaii that the fires have only accentuated. We have more than enough housing to house our people — the problem is that we’ve let it be used for others’ profit instead. It should have never gotten to the point where 87% of units north of Lahaina are short-term vacation rentals, letting others get rich off the displacement of our people.”

The high cost of housing represents one of the biggest reasons that residents continue to flee Hawaii for more affordable communities on the mainland, especially Las Vegas. Green said that 52% of all short-term rentals are owned by nonresidents, and 27% of them own 20 or more units.

“One of the largest applause lines from Governor Green’s ‘State of the State’ address came when he reiterated his willingness to issue a moratorium on short-term vacation rentals on Maui,” Lazo said. “This is because it’s an idea that so many of us have already unified around, from labor unions like ILWU, Unite Here, and HSTA Maui, to Hotel executives, to the 40 West Maui organizations in the Lahaina Strong Housing Hui. Converting short-term vacation rentals to long-term housing unites environmentalists with housing advocates, labor unions with Hotel CEOs and community activists. “

Urging the governor to make good on his threat for a moratorium, Lazo said it would be a positive move.

“He has the power to unite and heal us by listening to the voice of the people and issuing this moratorium, like he previously said he would by mid-January, instead of building hundreds of unnecessary units in places outside of community and environmental plans, with insufficient infrastructure such as Launiupoko. Our communities cannot wait another day for the assurance they need to move forward. “