Every month when I pay my rent in Honolulu, I can't help but sigh.

Recently, I saw an article stating that the average rent in Honolulu is $2,083, which is just a heartbreaking number for locals.

A 2-bedroom, 1100 square foot rental used to cost around $2,400 in 2020, but now it's nearly impossible to find one for under $3,000.

I wondered why rent has gotten so out of hand, and it turns out that the surge in rent is closely linked to the influx of tourists coming to Hawaii.

The biggest reason is that rental platforms like Airbnb and similar services have swept up homes on the island, converting residential properties into tourist accommodations.

The numbers are even more shocking. About 2.5% of all homes in Oahu are now being used for short-term rentals, which means that thousands of homes that local tenants could live in are instead hosting tourists for just a few days.

When looking at the entire state of Hawaii, there are a staggering 34,500 short-term rental listings. All these homes are competing for the living spaces we need.

In a limited land area like Oahu, it's only natural that the lack of long-term rental properties would cause rent prices to skyrocket.

Fortunately, the state government isn't completely inactive. With the passing of Bill SB 2919 in May 2024, counties will have the power to regulate short-term rentals more strictly.

Honolulu has decided that starting September 2025, only long-term rentals of at least 90 days will be allowed in non-NUC residential areas, and Maui has gone even further by shutting down 2,200 short-term rentals in West Maui effective June 1, 2025.

It's clear that the direction of these laws and administrative actions is shifting towards protecting local residents rather than catering to outside tourists. Ultimately, the rental market is a battle of supply and demand. With limited land available for building homes, the market has been overrun by tourist accommodations, leaving locals with nowhere to go.

I hope that these new regulations will not just be words but will actually work effectively in practice.

If short-term rentals can be returned to the long-term rental market and the rise in rent prices can be curbed,

maybe the local residents who struggle every month to meet their rent deadlines will finally catch a break.