Should landlords be allowed to give 45-day notices to vacate following the fire to provide housing for their family? - Results (15 votes)
No
73.33% (11 votes)
11
Yes, if it's actually for their family members who lost homes.
6.67% (1 vote)
1
Yes, and they should be able to do it for any reason.
6.67% (1 vote)
1
I don't know.
6.67% (1 vote)
1
Something else.
6.67% (1 vote)
1
When wildfires destroyed Lahaina on Aug. 8, Miranda Boam lost both of her jobs, her favorite hangout spots and the town she adores.
But while she didnt lose her Lahaina apartment to the blaze, shes about to be displaced for another reason.
Boam and dozens of other tenants around Maui have received 45-day notices to vacate many coming from landlords who say they need their properties back to house family members whose homes were destroyed in the fires.
Alan Lloyd, an organizer with the Maui Tenants Association, said over the last week, the groups hotline has received 10 to 15 calls per day from renters who say theyve received notices to vacate.
Lloyd calls it a second wave of people about to be uprooted from their homes after the fire left thousands homeless in an already tight housing market.
Its really an eviction storm, he said. Its the worst of the worst, because it puts everyone in crisis.
A 45-day notice sent to a renter on a month-to-month lease isnt technically an eviction. And tenants do have some recourse.
They can look online to see if their landlord has listed their unit for rent, which would indicate the property owner isnt really using it for a family member, Lloyd said. In that case, the tenant could write a letter contesting the notice to vacate.
But many renters wont go up against property owners or take them to court because they may need to use the landlord as a reference to get a new rental, or they may simply want to avoid the hassle of a legal battle, he said.
Boams landlord, Liz Straka, told tenants they have to go because her sister lost her home and needs a place to live with her two dogs, according to a copy of the 45-day notice to vacate letter provided to Civil Beat.
Straka did not respond to calls and texts seeking comment.
Boam, 28, who shares the rental property with two other people, noted that people displaced by the fire should be eligible for assistance that Boam and her roommates dont qualify for because their home didnt burn down.
The home, adjacent to Napili Park on Pualu Loop, is north of the area most impacted by the fires.
Boam worked at Reef Dancer, an underwater tour company, and Choice Health Bar, a vegan restaurant which she said both perished in the flames.
I do feel bad if its true and her sister lost her home, but at the same time, youre going to make three people homeless in order to house one person, she said, and that doesnt seem to make a lot of sense.
Boam said finding a rent comparable to the $1,200 a month shes been paying will be difficult, especially a unit that is pet friendly.
Shes starting to imagine that once the 45-day notice expires, shell have to move into a large tent with her two cats, Dobby and Cali.
Its such a weird concept when youre almost planning for homelessness, she said. Theres just no help out there for you because youre not one of the people who lost their house to the fire.
In my life right now, my landlord is my fire, she said.
Gov. Josh Green has temporarily prohibited landlords on Maui from increasing rent prices and terminating tenancies for failure to pay.
Landlords can still kick tenants out, though, in order to house immediate family members at their property, Lloyd said. But while many landlords are using that excuse, he thinks they may have an ulterior motive of raising rents.
Lloyd said he saw the same phenomenon happening during the Covid-19 pandemic when there was a moratorium on evictions. Landlords would still kick out their tenants with the justification that they were moving in family members.
Robert Collier, 55, who works operating a ferry between Maui and Lanai, said he also received a 45-day notice to leave his unit at 70 Pualu Loop in Lahaina.
The notice, issued by property management company Quam Properties Hawaii, says Collier must leave before Oct. 8 but doesnt give a reason.
Four other people also live in the house, he said. Quam Properties did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment.
The notice compounded Colliers problem after he lost his Lahaina Harbor business with two boats and all his dive gear.
Im so shell shocked and so numb with everything else that Ive lost, said Collier. Youre just getting hit by so many different things in so many different ways, and what do you do?
Collier said hes still working part time for the ferry, which is now running service to Lanai out of Maalaea Harbor, but he lost his ability to earn extra income through his other business doing underwater repair work.
Right now studios are going for $3,000 a month in Lahaina, he said. And I have a 1-year-old German shepard, so it makes it even more difficult to find a place.
Collier could technically fight the property management company because it didnt provide a legitimate reason for kicking him out. But he said he knows the issue will recur once the eviction moratorium expires, and he wants stable housing.