This Is How The Candidates For Maui Mayor Want To Tackle The Housing Crisis 14 Both say the lack of housing for residents is the county’s top problem, but they’re proposing very different solutions.
The Maui mayoral race has been defined by candidates’ sweeping promises to boost the availability of housing that local residents can afford and stop the exodus of longtime families who’ve been priced out.
But the two candidates who want to lead the county’s $1 billion government have vastly different ideas on how to get the job done.
Mayor Michael Victorino, who’s running for a second four-year term in the Nov. 8 general election, wants to spur the construction of new homes by removing regulatory barriers and having the county pay for roads, sewers and water lines that otherwise drive up housing costs. His goal is to help first-time buyers and renters find “the right home.”
Retired Judge Richard Bissen, on the other hand, has a list of short-, medium- and long-term goals. Among his ideas: Start by making it easier for homeowners to build additional cottages or ohana units on their properties, then pursue partnerships with the owners of commercial buildings to repurpose abandoned structures into apartments. Then, in the years to come, he wants to tap federal funding to pay for infrastructure needed to develop large-scale housing projects.
