Maui remains vulnerable to economic shocks with our “sun and beach” tourism-centric economy that has failed to keep pace with inflation or provide general wellbeing and dignity for our full-time and long-term residents. Our economy is distinctly dependent on tourism and that leaves us vulnerable to a fiscally extractive economy, an inequitable dependence on the vacationing visitor, and reliant on imported necessities. We must jump-start small businesses, invest in workforce development - especially for healthcare and trades careers, boost sustainable agriculture, and develop our film industry so it can flourish.

COVID-19 left many affected by layoffs, receiving financial assistance through microloans or grants to local small businesses in an attempt to help jump-start our economy. However, once Maui reopened to tourism, we were inundated with vacationers while experiencing extreme inflation on the price of goods we need to survive.

Evenmore, much of our housing is leveraged toward expensive short-term vacation rentals instead of housing residents, which results in hyper-inflation in our long-term rental housing stock. Our families still make about the same amount of money as before COVID 19 and the fire, but our basic living costs have skyrocketed. Now, FEMA is paying tens of thousands of dollars each month to rent housing which is causing more hyper-inflation in our rental housing inventory.

This is a fatally flawed system.

Healthcare and Trades Careers: Our County must pursue Federal and State assistance for workforce development education, especially for healthcare and trades careers. While the travel Nurse and Doctor programs help bridge a gap in our healthcare system, and skilled workers from the continent are utilized for local jobs, it does not solve the problem.

Our keiki and young adults are so intelligent, smart, savvy, and capable. They deserve to have access to no-cost or low-cost education opportunities in these stable career fields because it will help them and our community at the same time. All of us deserve to have dignified jobs that help us thrive financially so we can continue to call Maui County our home. It is up to us to build the kind of community that provides for our families so we can grow and stay here, instead of being forced to move away. We can not continue with status quo if we want to thrive - we must make changes for the better.

Small Business Support: I will focus on building stronger relationships with Federal and State agencies so we can secure as many resources as possible to build a strong small business sector. When I first started this campaign in February, I was calling for a fully-operational Small Business Administration (SBA) office to Maui County. Recently, the SBA office was opened in Wailuku at One Main Plaza and I appreciate the attention brought to this matter.

Before September of this year, Maui County was the only County in Hawaiʻi without an SBA office and that unfortunate decision has caused reduced access to business education, resources, grants, and loans for our entrepreneurs. SBA loans and grants are a primary resource for fire recovery just as they were a primary resource during COVID 19. In fact, people do not have to own a business to receive financial supports from SBA during crisis response and recovery. We absolutely must continue to have an SBA office in Maui County to diversify our economy through entrepreneurship and to increase accessibility to needed resources for all of us.

COVID 19 showed us the stark truth that “sun and beach” tourism as a mono-economy is not a viable economic engine for Maui. On any given day, we have between 5-7 days of food supply and that makes us not only dependent on shipping imports but also leaves us vulnerable to disruptions in the supply system. It’s estimated that we import 90% of our food to support current demand from residents and high demand from vacationers. With the abundance of fallow land around our island, I know we can make agriculture a workable solution to bringing Maui Nui into environmental and economic sustainability.

Crop selection, so that when harvested, it could be manufactured into products we currently import (e.g. textiles, building materials, office and household supplies, biofuels, plastic alternatives, etc.), would lessen our dependence on outside factors, and replenish the nutrients into previously fallow lands. This would help increase jobs as well as offset our CO2 Emissions and contribute to the overall input into our aquifers, along with providing more locally sourced food to nourish our families.
Maui County must focus resources towards the new Department of Agriculture specifically by supporting and growing small, locally-owned family farms - farmers who live and operate within our community. Maui County needs consistent access to nutrition-dense and affordable foods that meet the demand for food from our community from both the livestock and the crop (including fruits and vegetables) sector. Sustainable agriculture helps us reduce our reliance on shipping, nonrenewable energy sources, and helps reduce or eliminate the use of heavy chemicals and fertilizers or irrigation systems.

Housing is a basic human right, yet housing has become overwhelming for over 50 percent of our local families who work multiple jobs just to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Meanwhile, 25% of the housing inventory is owned by nonresidents. We must prioritize building affordable housing where it is most needed, develop a responsible tiny-home ordinance, and tackle the economic factors promoting nonresident ownership.

COVID-19 had an enormous impact on our Islands and now the impact from the August 2023 fires in Lāhainā and Upcountry has exacerbated economic recovery and continues to have an immense impact on our commUNITY. In the days and weeks after the fire, we all caae together, to huipu for each other, and combined our personal resources to help begin recovery. We are resilient!

However, many small businesses have permanently closed their doors or they strain to maintain stability against tremendous economic headwinds. As you drive around Kahului, you see many empty storefronts, buildings, and office spaces that can and should be repurposed to help our community. My plan is to do what it takes to repurpose these sites as housing zones to provide rent-to-own units, affordable housing units, or perhaps another Pu’uhonua.

We also must focus on a sustainable and responsible tiny homes ordinance. If we don’t do this, we risk having portions of our County turn into a trailer park filled with cheap (and sometimes toxic) shelters that litter the ʻaina and have to go to the landfill much sooner than more long-term housing types. Tiny homes can be an environmentally sustainable and economic choice in some situations, but our unique microclimates are delicate and must be cared for. Maui County must have the political will to address this head-on and transparently before we have thousands of rogue trailers that we canʻt just ship off-island easily.

Long Term Affordable Housing: According to Maui County estimates, 87% of those who lost their homes in the fires were renters. Even more, our housing reports from before the fire indicated that we need to build at least 5,000 affordable housing units by 2025 to meet the minimum demand for housing in our community. But 5,000 homes isn’t a realistic number anymore. Even the most conservative estimates suggest we now need at least 13,000 affordable homes constructed to begin address the ongoing housing shortage in addition to that created by the fire.

We can not continue with status quo - like nothing has changed! If we continue to follow the outdated affordable housing plans, Kahului and Kihei will be the primary locations for affordable housing. If we continue with status quo, not only will there not be enough housing in Lāhainā, it will overburden Kahului and Kihei.

My plan is to get to work immediately on updating the affordable housing plan and with a focus on solving the affordable housing shortages where our families already live, work, and have stability. We can’t expect 8,000 households to move to Kahului or Kihei while their keiki are in school in Lāhaina, their jobs are on the westside, and they’ve built stable community relationships on the westside.

Managed Encampments: Homelessness is primarily a result of an appalling lack of affordable housing combined with a lack of political will to address the problem with financial and supportive resources.

I witnessed the actions taken during the sweep at Amala Place in September of 2021 and I was appalled at the lack of compassion for our houseless community. The lack of social services and trauma-informed care exacerbated the emotional trauma this sweep brought forth. The stereotype of lazy, druggies, and alcoholics who want that lifestyle may be true for some… but definitely not all!

After the fires and our recent bout of Covid-19, so many residents are experiencing constant housing instability, significant and repeated life-changing events, and have become unemployed or are having to work multiple jobs to just put food on the table.

The population of our unhoused and housing unstable has grown exponentially and Ka Hale A Ke Ola homeless resource center and shelter was lost during the Lāhainā fire. I propose we establish another Managed Encampment - a Pu’uhonua- as a practical and safer way to manage this issue. A Pu’uhonua is a small village that provides safety and security to residents, to help with rehabilitation and provide access to social services, on-site case management, and basic necessities. This would be like the Pu‘uhonua o Nēnē that is on state-owned land by the airport in Kahului.

Puʻuhonua is not a long-term solution to providing affordable, permanent housing and services, but it will provide increased access to transitional or long-term housing, provide stability and access to needed healthcare services, while building the trust needed to help people in our houseless community.

Maui’s unique culture, ecology, and history are endangered and have slowly diminished from overdevelopment and overtourism. From protecting Iwi Kupuna to preserving our coral reefs, we must enact stronger policies that protect what we have.

Our resources are slowly diminishing. Our sand dunes are disappearing because of overdevelopment. Our Iwi Kupuna are being disinterred and desecrated because of greed and profit. Our coral reefs are being crushed and destroyed because of excessive beach activities. These are but a few examples of why we need to protect and preserve what little of our resources we have left. Living on an island presents many challenges, thereby deeming all resources a precious commodity. Our resources should not be squandered, because “what you see...is all you got”!