Hawaii fire/land grab

[flowerseverywhere]

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/17/1194351587/hawaii-governor-vows-to-block-land-grabs-as-fire-ravaged-maui-rebuilds

This may be a better for the political thread, but this struck me as what has been happening for years all over the country. The world for that matter.

Housing becomes more and more unaffordable and people who have lived for generations in an area become no longer able to afford to live there. Many of us have been to this exact area and can certainly understand the allure of living there. A quandary indeed.

[catherine]

That is sickening....

I keep wondering, as I see neighborhoods near me climbing in value that is unattainable for most people--where are people getting this money?? How can so many people afford million dollar homes? How can an average younger person trying to get their first home come up with tens of thousands of dollars for a down payment and then afford monthly payments upwards of $4000-$5000??

It appears to me that it is the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots... this is when life is a Monopoly game--you see that there are enough people with properties on Boardwalk and Park Place to put you in a precarious position on the game board. Unfettered capitalism at its best. Rising tides submerging the small boats--not lifting them up.

I hope the governor of Hawaii sticks to his guns to prevent these seedy attempts at land grabs.

[Tradd]

Here’s the thing though - so if the govt takes the land to prevent outsiders from buying it, the govt is taking private land. What if a family wants to leave the island and sell their land? Is the govt going to pay them for it or not?

It seems a lot of people were renters from what I’ve read. A lot of the old plantations houses were split into apartments.

[sweetana3]

There are so many what ifs and unintended consequences in all this. Same issues came up for New Orleans.

Example: What if the "state" wants a large tract for affordable housing but one lot in the middle is needed for one family to rebuild their home or compund? Is it "fair" to penalize the one family for the good of all? Or what if they need it for commercial purposes?

What if a family or business owner has ideas on what to do to rebuild (and nothing will ever be the same), who is going to now tell them what others want them to do with their properties? It is the WHO but the property owner is going to make these decisions. My opinion is that most often the government is not the best source.

[flowerseverywhere]

Great points. Around me is not so much individual buyers, but companies buying homes and converting to apartments or short term rentals. It is very lucrative in many areas of the country. Many parcels get zoning changed from single family to large tall buildings. This happened around me. A plot of land with a house backed up to a residential area. it was rezoned to multi family and commercial. Large apartment buildings near the property lines hover over the regular houses. A shooting gallery, A big box store, gas station and large bank butt up to another residential area. the noise, Loss of privacy and decline in property values and decrease in quality of life followed.

[bae]

For the past decade or so, properties on my island have been being snapped up by off-island purchasers. Prices are through the roof, and it has been pushing out long-time locals. There is very little housing now available at a sane price for purchase or rent.

This is the problem with places that the entire rest of the world wants to own a part of, or at least visit. The market demand is worldwide, but the supply is very local and limited.

The Bailiwick of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, solves this by not allowing non-locals to purchase. But they are their own government and can be "direct" about solving the problem.

[jp1]

Catherine, how much of the people moving into your area are retirees or people who work remotely for a job far away. As someone who lives in a very high cost of living area and gets paid accordingly we will quite possibly be those rich Californians that retire elsewhere and drive up prices with our California perspective on what real estate costs since almost anywhere else will seem cheap to us.

[iris lilies]

In my tiny town the complaint is there are no places to rent because outsiders buy the properties and turn them into Airbnb properties. I can’t help but think the place is saturated with Air bnb here, but maybe not.


Another complaint is that there’s nothing to rent, but when there IS something to rent, it is not advertised because this is an insular town, and everything is word of mouth.

[iris lilies]

Catherine, how much of the people moving into your area are retirees or people who work remotely for a job far away. As someone who lives in a very high cost of living area and gets paid accordingly we will quite possibly be those rich Californians that retire elsewhere and drive up prices with our California perspective on what real estate costs since almost anywhere else will seem cheap to us.

hello, California exitus thing has been going on for decades. I remember when my California relative moved up to Oregon and they noted how Oregonians are not at all happy about it.

[bae]

Interesting outlook:

https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/na...hs-about-maui/