Trey Gordner
An Economic Analysis of the Proposal to Phase Out Transient Vacation Rentals in Maui County Apartment Districts
This report examines the Maui County proposal to phase out transient vacation rentals (TVRs) in Apartment districts, including removing long-standing exceptions for pre-1989 properties widely known as the “Minatoya List.” The policy aims to improve housing affordability, worsened by the 2023 wildfires, by converting TVRs into long-term housing units. Our analysis includes effects on tourism, […]
Read MoreMaui’s Recovery 1½ Years After the Wildfires
By Daniela Bond-Smith, Trey Gordner, Caleb Wood Eighteen months after the August 2023 wildfires, Maui’s fire-impacted households continue to face significant economic and housing instability. While some indicators suggest limited progress, the latest findings from the Maui Recovery Survey: Housing & Jobs show that many challenges remain. The survey, launched by the University of Hawai‘i […]
Read MoreConstruction Defect Litigation, Housing Affordability, and Homeownership in Hawai‘i
Hawai‘i faces a severe housing shortage, driven by high costs and regulatory barriers that hinder new development. One emerging factor is the rise of construction liability litigation. While issues like land use constraints, infrastructure availability, and permitting delays have long been recognized as major challenges to housing affordability, litigation is becoming an increasingly significant source […]
Read MoreOne year after the wildfires: Rising poverty and housing instability point to ongoing gaps in assistance
The Maui Recovery Survey: Housing & Jobs monitors the housing and economic recovery of fire-impacted households on Maui. This initiative, launched one year after the devastating Maui wildfires of August 2023, provides monthly updates on the socioeconomic conditions in West Maui and Kula on a public dashboard. The findings reflect the ongoing challenges fire-impacted households […]
Read MoreUHERO welcomes Trey Gordner
We are pleased to welcome Trey Gordner, who joined UHERO in June as a Policy Researcher/Data Scientist and was recently named a Lincoln Institute Vibrant Communities Fellow. Trey’s research will focus primarily on housing affordability and Maui wildfire recovery. Most recently, Trey directed the Hawaii Zoning Atlas–a statewide data defense project seeking to reduce the […]
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