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Editor’s note: For Hawaii’s Nov. 5 General Election, Civil Beat asked candidates to answer some questions about where they stand on various issues and what their priorities will be if elected.

The following came from Gabe Johnson, candidate for Maui County Council Lanai District. He is unopposed.

Go to Civil Beat’s Election Guide for general information, and check out other candidates on the General Election Ballot.

1. Clearly, Maui County faces big issues related to the fires. What’s the primary thing Maui needs to do now to recover from the fires?

Simply put, there is so much to do, but we need to make sure the needs of our community come first. Food, clothing and shelter all need to be secured and we need to ensure stable housing for locals.

Renters need security, which is why I support the governor’s moratorium on evictions. Affordable units need to be built or made available as soon as possible.

In my first term I wrote and passed bills that made housing truly affordable and gave preference to long-time residents. If the administration had moved quickly on enacting these bills we would be in a much different situation than we are now.

2. What should Maui do to encourage people to stay? What can the county do to ensure that families aren’t priced out?

The administration should be doing everything it can to provide affordable housing and follow laws that I created in my first term. This term I changed laws for ag labor dwellings to allow families of the workers to be able to live with them and am currently working on a vacancy tax to disincentivize keeping homes empty and house-banking.

I also support rent stabilization and am working on a bill to create this security for our thousands of families that rent and who are being priced out and forced to leave their island home.

3. Do you support the new state law that allows counties to regulate and even shut down short-term rentals? Why or why not?

Yes. We all see it. Short-term rentals or STRs benefit the few with data showing that 85% of the Minatoya list are owned by off-shore owners. STRs also inflate home prices.

It costs so much time and money to create affordable housing on top of having limited infrastructure and in parts of the island available water. If just a small percentage of short-term rentals convert to long-term rentals or housing to own, we could fix our housing emergency. 

4. What’s your vision for Lahaina? How should it be rebuilt and who should decide?

The people of Lahaina should decide and I wholeheartedly encourage them to share their vision. The county then should support that vision and build back Lahaina safer and better.

I hope that the administration and the rest of the council work with the community in West Maui so that we can actually do what they want the county to do. The administration needs to beef up its capacity, rewrite administrative rules that do not serve us, and hire some hammahs. The longer our own processes and systems hinder progress, then the more folks will give up and move away.

5. What should elected officials do to restore trust in county government?

Write some bills. Do something. Find a cause and champion it. Basically do your job.

Politics is a, “What have you done for me lately,” kind of job. Try and fix something that will help your community thrive. Make this world a better place and ensure that generations to come are still able to call this place home. 

6. Do you think Maui County should do more to manage water resources? Why or why not?

Yes, which is why I support purchasing water delivery systems, turning over water leases to the county and nonprofits, and creating new sources. I strongly believe water is a public trust, not a commodity to be bought and sold.

I passed a bill out of my Agriculture, Diversification, Environment and Public Transportation Committee that would require the county to clean our wastewater to R1 standards. We should be using this resource to irrigate our island and not waste it by dumping it via injection wells.

I’m also finalizing a bill that will make it a lot easier to have water catchment in rural and ag districts.

7. What is the first thing Maui County should do to get in front of climate change rather than just reacting to it?

I wrote a bill to codify Maui County’s Climate Action and Resiliency Plan to ensure that the administration changes the way we do business and is proactive in all departments. Climate change should be top of mind in all decisions to ensure a sustainable future on the islands. 

Agriculture is key. Think of the food we buy that is highly processed, grown in foreign countries, and has to be transported here. Green circular economies reduce carbon emissions and make the land and our people much more healthy.

I just submitted two bills to the council that support farmers and reduce regulations.

8. Homelessness is becoming more of an issue on Maui. What do you think needs to be changed to help people get into housing, and stay housed?

We use the Housing First model in Maui County but how can this work if we have no available housing? We need homes, apartments, tiny houses, shelters, basically everything in order to react to folks who are in a crisis.

Wrap-around services need to be on site or within easy reach so if people are struggling they can get the help they need. Tenants also need to be aware of their rights and should have legal representation if evicted.

Basically it goes back to what Virginia Wolf said, for society to survive we need a “room of one’s own.” When folks experience housing insecurity the diseases of despair increase and the cycles of abuse and trauma continue. We need to treat everyone with dignity, meet them where they are at, and support our most vulnerable with trauma-informed solutions.

9. Traffic is getting worse on Maui, and different regions face different challenges. What would be your approach to improve Maui’s transportation problems?

I wrote a bill that passed last year that makes monthly bus passes free for folks who who are low-income. We need more people riding the public transportation. 

Roads also need to be built, but the county and state need to apply for available federal funding. By fostering great partnerships at the federal, state and county levels, it is amazing what can be achieved to improve our infrastructure.

I am also working hard to acquire a ferry system that will service the outer islands. I put in money for a feasibility study in the county’s budget that will be complete in February. Hopefully we will make great strides to secure a mode of transportation that is a lifeline to so many.

I believe in putting the public back in public transportation, as I believe it should be a service, not profit-driven.