Updated on April 21, 2023
“I served in the U.S. Army for 21 years, and I had to abide by a lot of different policies and rules,” said veteran Matt Trevino. “I didn’t serve as a medic in Afghanistan just to have my property rights taken away from me.”
After overseas deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, Matt wasn’t expecting to have to fight for his property rights at home because of Oahu short term rental laws.
But that’s exactly what he’s doing as a newly minted board member of the Oahu Short-Term Rental Alliance (OSTRA).
Matt and other OSTRA leaders are orchestrating a high-stakes opposition campaign against a bill that would effectively put short-term rentals out of business in Oahu. And not just STRs – defined as a rental of less than 30 days – are on the line. Honolulu City Council’s Bill 41 also bans rentals of less than 90 days.
Matt’s business, Chires LLC, operates two vacation rentals and is among those businesses in jeopardy under the proposed ordinance.
From the Army to short-term rental advocacy
Matt and his wife bought their first home in Oahu after the Army stationed them there in 2014. After Matt retired from the Army in 2018, the couple decided to stay on the island because it has the best weather on the planet, he said.
That same year, he bought a condo in Oahu with a plan to rent it out on Vrbo and other OTA platforms to help earn money for his family while he studied full-time to earn a master’s degree in business.
He also started tracking legislation at Honolulu City Council. In 2018, the City Council revamped its ordinance governing STRs with Bill 89, which ended new permits for whole-house short-term rentals outside of resort zones and levied a $10,000-a-day fine for violators.
The ordinance was meant to slow the proliferation of STRs on the island and crack down on vacation rentals that were operating illegally and evading Oahu’s transient accommodations tax (TAT).
However, in late 2021, Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi proposed more restrictions on rentals, this time seeking to ban rentals of less than 180 days.
That limit was modified to 90 days after opponents pointed out that traveling nurses who typically have three-month contracts would no longer be able to find accommodations.
A blitz on property rights and Oahu’s tourism economy
Matt said a ban on rentals of less than 90 days violates the rights of homeowners who bought properties and built businesses on the understanding that they could rent those homes on a month-to-month basis. It also would significantly reduce Oahu’s transient accommodations tax revenue and devastate the island’s tourism-based economy.
“Basically, the people who follow the law will be crushed, but unless they have some mechanism for enforcing the ban, the illegal ones can keep operating,” Matt said. “And Oahu and the state are not going to get any taxes from them. It’s a double-edged sword that I don’t want to swallow.”
Matt joined the OSTRA board to help amplify the voices of those who depend on vacation rentals to earn a living and to be able to afford life on the tropical island, where the cost of living is almost triple the average of the U.S.
Those voices belong not only to vacation rental operators but to housekeepers, restaurateurs, suppliers, and other service providers. OSTRA featured some of their stories in a recent video series showing the damage that Bill 41 could do to individuals and to Oahu’s economy as a whole.
Matt and other STR advocates have engaged in letter-writing, op-eds, face-to-face meetings, and public testimony at City Council explaining how the bill would harm the community.
Encouraging data-driven decisions for Oahu’s short term rental laws
In his messaging to council members, he has attempted to separate fact from fiction and to encourage council members to do their research before deciding on Bill 41. [Learn what data is right to share with your city council here >>]
“Proponents of Bill 41 argue that vacation rentals are destroying neighborhoods,” Matt said. “I’m a data-driven guy. I want to see the data. Show me the police reports, show me the citations, show me the noise and nuisance citations against the people who are supposedly destroying these neighborhoods.”
City Council Vice Chair Esther Kia’aina recently said time is running out to opine on Bill 41. A council subcommittee will be the next to consider the bill in a hearing on March 23.
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