Maui lawmakers passed legislation aimed at eliminating a large percentage of the Hawaiian island's vacation rentals to address a housing shortage exacerbated by last year's Lahaina wildfire.

After listening to more than 300 testifiers and meeting for more than four days over the past few months, the Maui County Council voted on July 24 to pass the bill that would phase out thousands of vacation rentals to hopefully provide much needed housing for residents.

Maui's council committee passed a plan to phase out around 7,000 short-term rentals to increase housing for locals.