Hawaii Daily News Read

Thursday, September 26, 2024

September 26, 2024 News Read

By Andrew Walden @ 2:59 PM :: 2367 Views

Lahaina Fire BATF Report to be Released Weds Oct 2

Tokuda: Committee Approves Bill to Make Lahaina Federally Controlled 'National Heritage Area'

Coqui Frogs Invade Oahu Mountaintop

Money Management: More Lahaina Millions for CNHA

State Supreme Court: No TVRs on Ag Land

Maui Planning Department launches expedited SMA exemption process for Lahaina parcels

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Arguments on Fake Lahaina Fire ‘Settlement’

KHON: … Judge Cahill has requested the Supreme Court’s input on the matter.

Jesse Creed, an attorney representing the wildfire victims, stated that if the court had chosen not to intervene, the settlement would have fallen apart, forcing the parties back into litigation.

He warned that this could lead to HECO facing bankruptcy….

Lawyers have 40 days to submit their briefs to the court, followed by an additional 40 days for responses….

Aug 8, 2024: Full Text: Insurance Company Lawyers Debunk Green’s Fake Lahaina Fire Settlement

Aug 13, 2024: Full Text: Insurers Will Appeal Fake Maui Settlement Ruling

CB: Hawaii Supreme Court To Decide Fate Of $4 Billion Wildfire Settlement

KITV: Arguments are expected to begin early next year.

read … Hawaii Supreme Court to review $4 billion settlement for Lahaina wildfire victims

Honolulu Empty Homes Tax Hike Proposal Advances

CB: … A plan to increases taxes on homes that sit empty on Oahu moved forward Wednesday when a Honolulu City Council committee agreed to send it on to the council budget committee.

Bill 46 passed out of the Housing, Sustainability and Health Committee on a 3-2 vote.

In addition to standard property taxes of about half of a percentage point or less on the home’s value, the empty homes tax would start at 1% of a home’s value its first year and then climb to 2% the next year before ending at 3%....

The City Council has discussed passing an empty homes tax for years, and top elected officials including both Mayor Rick Blangiardi and Council Chair Tommy Waters have expressed their support as far back as 2020.

But an empty homes tax also poses a lot of practical questions. Among them: How would the tax be enforced? What makes a home “empty?” Where would the collected money go?

These questions have tripped up officials like Budget and Fiscal Services Director Andrew Kawano and real property assessment division administrator Steven Takara, who in the past have expressed concern with the overhead needed to sift through homeowners’ declarations of occupancy.

To help handle those administrative challenges, the city in July commissioned a half-million dollar study by consulting firm Ernst & Young. A final report is due summer 2025….

Perhaps the biggest question mark remaining is where the revenue would go. Council member Esther Kiaaina prefers that it go to the city’s general fund so it can be spent on anything from homelessness services to parks, while Weyer – who chairs the housing committee — amended the bill and directed the money to the city’s affordable housing fund.

That would ensure it can only be spent on projects and programs related to affordable housing for people making 60% of the area median income or less, or about $58,500 for a single person and $83,250 for a family of four.

Despite having reservations about that specific amendment, Kiaaina voted to advance the bill, joining Weyer and council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam. Council members Val Okimoto and Augie Tulba voted against it.

Bill 46 still has to pass one more City Council committee and then be approved by the full council.….

read … Honolulu Empty Homes Tax Proposal Advances

Victory: Maui rent stabilization stopped before it’s started

MN: … Even before a bill’s drafted to rein in Maui’s runaway long-term rental increases, the chair of the Maui County Council’s Housing and Land Use Committee said she’s not considering any legislation that regulates rent.

In opening remarks Wednesday morning, committee Chair Tasha Kama said she had been asked about preparing rent control legislation after panel members heard extensive public testimony, mostly in favor of rent relief, on Sept. 16.

Since the meeting nine days earlier, Kama said, “I have been contacted by members of the development industry. Even the consideration of this topic has had a chilling effect on those in the private sector who fund affordable housing rental projects, to the point that they are considering abandoning Maui for future housing projects. We need housing, and we cannot afford to scare off investors that create housing.”

Kama said she wanted to be clear: “I’m not entertaining any legislation that regulates rent, but I’m open to future incentive measures to moderate rent for those who are challenged to pay in this very tight rental market.”

Later, Council Member Tamara Paltin said: “It’s a little disappointing that we’re just talking about the problem, and not taking steps to address the problem.”

(Translation: FEMA drove rents up to $4000 a month. I want to ‘stabilize’ them before the FEMA subsidies expire and the rents go back down. At $4,000 a month, only progressives will be able to live here. It will be paradise.)

That problem being skyrocketing post-disaster rental increases for Maui residents. The August 2023 wildfire disaster upended the island’s rental housing market when, among other things, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s direct-lease program provided above-market rent payments to landlords who agreed to house wildfire survivors. The program has come under fire for leading to “predatory behavior” by some landlords who kicked out former renters to make housing available for displaced fire victims and cash in on higher FEMA rents….

(And now the ‘progressives’ want to ‘stabilize’ rents at these new, higher rates.)

MN: Rent stabilization cut down by Chair Tasha Kama at Housing and Land Use Committee meeting

HNN: Maui housing committee chair says no to ‘rent stabilization’

read … Pushback: Maui rent stabilization stopped before it’s started

Humane Society Shelters Overflowing because of ‘high cost of living and lack of affordable pet-friendly housing’

SA: … “No, there’s a misperception that what we’re seeing in the shelter with regard to owner- surrenders are ‘pandemic puppies,’ which it is not. The most frequently cited reasons for families that have been forced to make the difficult decision to surrender their pets into our care are Hawai‘i’s high cost of living and lack of affordable pet-friendly housing,” said Brandy Shimabukuro, a spokesperson for the Hawaiian Humane Society, which is waiving all adoption fees on kittens, cats, puppies and dogs through Monday in an effort to find new permanent homes for the animals. Read more at hawaiianhumane.org.

The nonprofit’s shelters have been consistently over capacity for the past two years…

read … Kokua Line: Why are people giving up pets?

Waianae Shootings: ‘Comprehensive’ Health Center sees $500K Grant opportunity

KHON: … “Treat this as a crisis, not as the new normal or this is just a one off. This is sustained violence,” said WCCHC executive vice president Nicholas Hughey. “That, in essence, makes it a crisis and when we’re in a crisis, then all the conventional sort of approach ahs to go out and we have to approach it as a crisis.”

WCCHC put forth a roadmap with a focus on mental health trauma and resilience counseling training and requested $500,000 from the City and State to support the initiative….

“Every single night and especially in, when it’s after nine and I hear more than three sirens, I just start to brace for whatever that could be,” said the Honokai Hale, Nānākuli and Mā‘ili representative….

read … West Oahu's public health crisis: 'Sustained violence'

Hawaii ACLU: Jews should stop defending themselves

CD: … colonization, and cultural erasure … The vote on the resolution was unanimous. "Why? Because we're the ACLU," board member, convicted felon, ex-con, and former crack addict Kenneth Lawson said in a video about the resolution. "We have to stand for something. And what is that? Justice. And we are opposed to violations of human rights." ….

read … Hawaii ACLU Demands End to US Complicity in 'Israeli Government's Genocide in Gaza'

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