Hawaii governor wants 3,000 vacation rentals converted to housing for Maui wildfire survivors

By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green says he he wants 3,000 condos and homes normally rented to Maui tourists converted to long-term housing for displaced wildfire survivors who are still living in hotels. Green says Friday he’s prepared to use the “hammer” of post-fire emergency orders to make sure owners of short-term vacation rentals extend them to long-term units if enough spaces aren’t converted voluntarily by mid-January. The governor says there were nearly 6,300 residents still living in hotels more than four months after the Aug. 8 wildfire wiped out historic Lahaina. The vast majority haven’t had anywhere else to go given Maui’s extreme housing shortage.