Hawaii governor calls for 3,000 vacation rentals to be converted to homes for Maui wildfire survivors and threatens to use the 'hammer' of post-fire emergency orders to force landlords who refuse

Hawaii Governor Josh Green said he wants 3,000 vacation rentals converted to long-term housing for displaced wildfire survivors who are currently still living in hotels, four months after the horrific blaze swept Maui.

Green said he is 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.

As of Thursday, the governor said there were 6,297 residents still living in hotels more than four months after the August 8 wildfire wiped out historic Lahaina and killed at least 97 people - the deadliest wildfire in modern US history.

The vast majority of residents don't have anywhere else to go given the extreme housing shortage on Maui. There are currently between 12,000 to 14,000 units legally rented on a short-term basis on Maui, according to Green. Including illegal ones, he estimated there could be nearly 25,000.

The lack of stable housing has been a source of stress for Lahaina residents, some of whom have had to switch hotel rooms multiple times since the fire. One group is camping out on Kaanapali Beach in front of resort hotels, vowing to stay there until short-term rentals are converted for the use of residents.

The blaze that swept into centuries-old Lahaina destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000.

Around 86 percent of the roughly 2,200 ruined buildings were residential and the value of wrecked property has been estimated at more than $5 billion.

Green said a combination of county tax incentives and generous rent subsidies offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency should help.

FEMA on Monday sent letters to 13,000 short-term rental operators across Maui informing them the agency would offer to pay them the same rent they earned during the previous year for their units, Green said.

In addition, the Maui County Council is currently considering legislation for property tax breaks promoted by the mayor.

'So there is no reason at all for people not to take this opportunity provided they want to be a helpful part of the solution,' Green said.

Green said he aims for these measures to provide interim housing for two years while more housing is built on Maui.

'So we really only need to get about 10 percent, maybe 12 percent, of all the available short term units on Maui,' he said. 

Ideally, officials could rent out an entire building or an entire timeshare property, he said.

FEMA will pay for units rented to about 2,000 families. The state of Hawaii and private philanthropists will cover rent for the remaining 1,000 families who are undocumented or are citizens from so-called Compact of Free Association states and who aren't eligible for FEMA aid, Green said.

He didn't have an estimate for how much this would cost, saying it would depend on how many rentals become available.

The governor plans to release details of his new budget proposals at a news conference on Monday.

On December 11, the heart of Lahaina reopened to residents and business holding day passes. Although authorities are recommending that people entering scorched lots wear protective gear to shield them from hazards.