> Ultimately this decision likely is one of the most efficient ways to begin to address the immediate problem in the fastest and most practical way. Rarely is

> Ultimately this decision likely is one of the most efficient ways to begin to address the immediate problem in the fastest and most practical way. Rarely is the most politically expedient solution the most efficient one, and here it goes double. So I take a little umbrage at you calling me naive and then saying something like this. When I say that people will do anything except the thing that will fix it, it's precisely because I know it is difficult. It's difficult because politically powerful people don't want change and don't want to admit to the harm they are causing to so many people so they can get their way and block new housing. Converting STRs back to houses will not bring much housing to the market. Just as a vacancy tax will not have much of an impact. Or banning foreign ownership. All these will only bring a few percentage back to the market. But there needs to be a much deeper structural change that allows for much more housing. Though I don't live in Hawaii, I follow a state legislator there very closely: Stanley Chang. He's one of the few people in the country willing to actually advocate for, and try to move the politics towards a solution: https://www.senatorchang.com/2023-housing-delegation https://www.senatorchang.com/2023-housing-delegation Spending political effort on distractions like AirBNB merely let people put off a real solution for a few more years. And perhaps in those few more years, they can come up with some sort of other boogeyman to chase so that the real solution can be delayed even more. AirBNB bans will not alleviate the housing crisis, but they will delay dealing with the real problem. And that itself is bad, inefficient, and harmful to Hawaiians.