Renting problems in Hawaii. If you have a pet?
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The #1 reason dogs and cats are surrendered to the Humane Society of Hawaii is the lack of pet-friendly housing.
It’s very difficult to find a rental house or apartment in Hawaii these days. And signing a lease is even more daunting for pet owners: In a market where rentals are scarce and landlords often receive dozens of applications within hours of posting a property online, why would they accept pets?
Hawaii is in dire need of affordable, pet-friendly housing!
The lack of housing options for pet owners has long been a problem across the state. On the island of Oahu, the Hawaiian Humane Society has advocated for the elimination of pet size and breed restrictions while providing support for renters to help them keep their pets when they experience financial hardship.
Meanwhile, on Kauai, a Humane Society spokesman said its shelter remains overcrowded — and often overcrowded — due to “too many pets and not enough pet-friendly housing.”
But the problem is now especially acute in Maui County, where the main reason families surrender their pets to the Maui Humane Society is because they are forced to move and cannot leave their four-legged family members behind.
Like the social workers who work for nonprofits that help shelter people, animal shelter workers are also witnesses to the island’s housing crisis. They are the ones who watch children cry as they are forced to give up the family dog due to no-pet policies, or fight to get food for pet owners living paycheck to paycheck who might otherwise give up their own food.
Last year, when the nationwide eviction moratorium ended, the Maui Humane Society saw an influx of pets, especially dogs, as their owners were kicked out of their homes. The shelter said it took in about 120 dogs at altitude; ideally there should be about 20 dogs in his kennels.
Shelter workers know there will always be a surge in surrender at the end of each month—as time runs out for families who need to move out first, some of whom inevitably end up living with relatives in cramped living conditions with no room for pets.
Then there are residents who put their safety at risk for their animals, such as the grocery store worker who paid for his three cats to be placed in a shelter after his home, which he had rented for 13 years old, was sold. He couldn’t find a place that would rent to him and the cats, so he moved into his car.
Hawaiians experience things like this on a weekly basis.
Maui shelter staff tries to educate tenants and landlords about the compromises they can make to accommodate pets—for example, drafting a pet agreement that states owners must pay for any potential damage caused by their pets; show that pets have undergone obedience training; purchasing pet liability insurance; or agreeing to certain conditions, such as not leaving pets unattended outside or regularly spraying properties for fleas.
Even if Maui renters get to the top of affordable housing waiting lists, there’s no guarantee they’ll be able to keep their cats and dogs because there’s no requirement that government-funded projects accept them. Landlords can set their own rules.
In the private market, however, the costs of pets are often beyond families’ financial means: In Hawaii, landlords can charge pet rent on top of regular rent, as well as require a separate pet deposit of up to one month’s rent. . – the equivalent of paying three months’ rent at once. But even for Maui renters making middle-class wages, finding housing remains difficult.
“If I have to sleep on the beach with my dog, I’ll do it.”
Housing on Maui has always been expensive, but in the past two years the average home sales price has jumped nearly 50% to more than $1 million, according to real estate data .
However, the typical year-round salary for a full-time worker hovers around $46,000 per year, according to Census estimates.
Jamie-Sue West is a homeowner in Kihei who runs a Facebook group called Dog-Friendly Home Rentals on Maui! I saw first-hand how the housing crisis spiraled out of control.
Before the pandemic, she received several requests each week to join the group from pet owners moving from the mainland. Then the number skyrocketed to 25 a day, more than she received from local residents.
“Because people come here from the mainland and earn mainland salaries, they can offer much higher rents than our locals who work in the hospitality industry,” West writes on his forum.
Thus, we see that the real estate rental crisis in Hawaii is gaining momentum and we, in turn, ask you to join our information portal about life in Hawaii Hawaii.bio – and support those who need to rent real estate with pets.
You can post information about your rental property or your pet service on Hawaii.bio for free.
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