The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Thursday joined seven other federal agencies to clarify in writing that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits forms of discrimination, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and other related forms.
To accomplish that goal, HUD published a housing-specific fact sheet about Title VI protections.
“In addition to shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics, religion is also a protected class under the Fair Housing Act, which HUD will continue to vigorously enforce,” the department said in a statement.
The administration unveiled its National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism in May, and HUD has remained a committed partner in its implementation across the federal government.
Reiterating Title VI protections and reminding people of their broader implications is key to accomplishing the administration’s equal housing goals, according to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge.
“Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and any other form of hate have no place anywhere, including in the home,” Fudge said in a statement. “No one should be discriminated against because of their ancestry or ethnic characteristics or their faith or beliefs.”
She added: “[This] announcement will further the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to combating discrimination in all its forms and guide our partners on the ground to enforce this country’s legal protections for Americans against acts of hatred.”
Discrimination based on “shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics” is illegal under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and ensuring that fact is understood is key to the White House’s housing policies, according to Demetria McCain, HUD’s principal deputy assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity.
“This announcement is in line with HUD’s continued commitment to combat housing discrimination in all forms,” McCain said. “It informs those who call America home of their right to be treated equally regardless of their shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics–putting us one step closer to building a housing system that prioritizes fairness and equality.”
In alignment with the Biden administration’s national strategy was a coordinated announcement from the other involved agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Justice, Interior, Labor, Treasury and Transportation, according to White House announcement.
Rhode Island-based chartered bank Washington Trust Company hasagreed to pay $9 million to settle a redlining case with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the parties announced Wednesday. The agreement requires court approval.
Washington Trust, known as the oldest U.S. community bank, was accused of illegally avoiding providing mortgage services to majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Rhode Island. However, the bank denies the allegations.
“This resolution will provide critical relief to impacted Black and Hispanic communities, enabling them to buy a home, keep their home or access the equity in their home,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a statement.
In this case, the alleged redlining occurred from 2016 through at least 2021, when the bank failed to open a branch in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. The DOJ alleges that the bank also failed to train and incentivize its staff to market and advertise its mortgage services to compensate for its lack of presence in these areas.
Ultimately, other banks received four times more loan applications each year in these minority neighborhoods than Washington Trust. And, even when the bank received applications in these areas, potential homebuyers were disproportionately White, the DOJ claims.
In a statement, the bank “vehemently” denied the allegations and said it agreed with the settlement solely to avoid the expense and distraction of potential litigation.
“We believe we have been fully compliant with the letter and spirit of fair lending laws, and the agreement will further strengthen our focus on an area that has always been important to us,” Edward O. “Ned” Handy III, Washington Trust chairman and CEO, said in a statement.
According to the agreement, Washington Trust will invest at least $7 million in a loan subsidy fund to increase access to mortgage and home equity products. It will also spend $1 million in partnerships and $1 million in advertising. The settlement does not include any civil monetary penalties.
Washington Trust committed to opening two new branches in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Rhode Island, with at least two mortgage loan officers. A director of community lending will oversee the business in communities of color.
Redlining has been on the DOJ’s radar since October 2021, when an Initiative to combat the problem was launched. Since then, the DOJ has reached $98 million in settlements in nine cases regarding the topic.
It includes cases such as American Bank of Oklahoma, ESSA Bank, Park National Bank, City National Bank, Lakeland Bank and Trident Mortgage Co.
Federal student loan payments resuming on Oct. 1 will negatively affect consumer loan asset quality, including credit card, auto and, to a lesser extent, residential mortgages. However, the overall effect will be modest, according to a Moody’s Analytics report.
On Oct. 1, repayments are due to restart on Department of Education (DOE) federal student loans (Direct Student Loans), which began accruing interest again on Sept. 1.
In total, 24 million borrowers whose payments were suspended since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic will owe an average of $275 per month when federal student loan payments resume, per Moody’s Analytics estimates.
“As the interest burden on student debt increases, we expect the additional financial obligation will modestly strain borrowers’ ability to pay,” Moody’s analysts said in a report.
According to the analysts, job market conditions remain the primary driver of consumer loan performance. In August, the unemployment rate was 3.8%, compared to 3.5% in July. Although it’s a low rate by historical standards, unemployment is at its highest level since February 2022.
“Although student loans are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, their priority in a consumer’s debt repayment hierarchy is low relative to the other major consumer debt classes,” Moody’s analysts said.
They added: “Borrowers are much more likely to prioritize servicing mortgage or auto loans and even credit cards since they stand to lose their house or car or access to credit or credit card rewards if they fall behind on such consumer loans.”
The report included data showing that delinquencies in major consumer debt classes are rising but are still at low levels.
For mortgage debt, the share of performing loans that were 30 or more days delinquent went from less than 2% in Q3 2021 to about 2.5% in Q2 2023. Credit card delinquencies jumped from 4% to about 7% in the same period. Meanwhile, auto loans rose from about 5% to 7%.
According to a report prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) earlier this month, there would be several immediate impacts following the program’s expiration.
“The authority to provide new flood insurance contracts will expire,” the CRS report said. “Flood insurance contracts entered into before the expiration would continue until the end of their policy term of one year.”
The borrowing authority of NFIP from the U.S. Treasury would also be reduced from $30.245 billion to $1 billion. Flood mitigation assistance grants would still be available, but “the expiration of the key authorities listed above would have potentially significant impacts on the remaining NFIP activities,” the CRS explained.
There would also be a chilling effect on the mortgage industry, according to experts and lawmakers.
“By law or regulation, federal agencies, federally regulated lending institutions and government-sponsored enterprises must require certain property owners to purchase flood insurance as a condition of any mortgage that these entities make, guarantee, or purchase,” the CRS report said.
Without NFIP, mortgage activity would be seriously diminished, as Sen. John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) stated.
“If for some reason the flood insurance program expires, existing policies are still in effect until their expiration date, and claims will continue to be paid as long as FEMA has money,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor on September 13. “However, the federal requirement that you have to purchase flood insurance under certain circumstances to get a mortgage would be suspended, which means that many mortgage companies would not loan the money to homeowners.”
In previous instances when NFIP lapsed, mortgage activity was temporarily halted. However, according to the CRS report, Congress eventually moved to reauthorize the program retroactively.
“In past NFIP lapses, borrowers were not able to obtain flood insurance to close, renew, or increase loans secured by property in [a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA)] until the NFIP was reauthorized,” the report said. “During the lapse in June 2010, estimates suggest over 1,400 home sale closings were canceled or delayed each day, representing over 40,000 sales per month. These figures applied to residential properties, but commercial properties were also affected by the NFIP lapse.”
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has prepared an FAQ document to advise members of the potential impacts an NFIP lapse would have on the housing industry. They specify that a currently debated continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government after September 30 includes an NFIP extension. Still, political observers and some in Washington are preparing for government funding to lapse.
The White House on Friday instructed federal agencies to prepare for a shutdown, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
“With the October 1 start of a new fiscal year and no funding in place, the Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget began to advise federal agencies to review and update their shutdown plans, according to an OMB official,” the AP report said. “The start of this process suggests that federal employees could be informed next week if they’re to be furloughed.”
The housing market will remain subdued until the Federal Reserve starts cutting rates next year, according to economists and housing pros following the central bank’s Wednesday announcement to leave the benchmark rate unchanged in the target range of 5.25%-5.5%.
Until interest rates come down, affordability challenges will continue to put first-time buyers on the sidelines, housing industry observers said. Real estate experts reiterated caution against further rate increases.
While Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized incoming data will determine whether the central bank will raise its federal funds rate at its next FOMC meeting in November, the “dot-plot” of rate projections showed policymakers foresee one more hike by the year-end. The bulk of central bank officials expect to have interest rates finishing the year at around 5.6%.
In an elevated rate environment, the lack of inventory continues to be the biggest challenge for many potential buyers, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.
“While homebuilder sentiment is clearly impacted by the recent surge in mortgage rates, permits for single-family homes provide a positive outlook for the pace of construction in the year ahead. If mortgage rates trend down in 2024 as we anticipate, the combination of more homes for sale and somewhat lower rates should support stronger purchase volume,” Mike Fratantoni, SVP and chief economist at the MBA.
The MBA expects mortgage rates should begin to reflect that the Fed’s moves in 2024 will be cuts – not further increases. MBA’s mortgage finance forecast projected the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to decline to 5.4% in 2024 and 5.1% in 2025.
Powell also noted in a press conference that because people locked in “very low rate mortgages, even if they want to move now, that would be hard because the new mortgage would be so expensive.”
Rates are most likely to stay elevated until 2024, said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com,thus putting a damper on the number of home sales transactions.
“Higher mortgage rates have radically altered homebuyer purchasing power and have been a key factor in existing home sales dropping from a more than 6.5 million unit pace in early 2022 to the roughly 4 million unit pace in recent months,” Hale said.
More importantly, higher mortgage rates continue to keep existing homeowners sidelined, with as many as one in seven buyers out of the market because they don’t want to borrow at today’s much higher rates, Hale noted.
Short-term mortgage rate movement
In the short-term, mortgage rates are likely to bounce around a bit as the markets digest upcoming economic data, Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage, said.
Incoming data of job and CPI reports next month will provide more clarity on how strong the economy is. Reports on jobs and inflation will be released on October 6 and October 12, respectively.
“If the data reveals that inflation remains elevated and employment is still growing, then mortgage rates are likely to move up and we can look for what we hope to be the last rate hike of this cycle,” Cohn said.
The rapid ascent is mostly behind us but it will be a while before the economy sees any sign of a gradual descent, Marty Green, principal at mortgage law firm Polunsky Beitel Green, added.
“In my view, this means the mortgage interest rate environment will continue to bounce sideways through the next several months,” Green said.
Mortgage rates have been on an upward trend this year with rates in August surging to 7.23%—the highest since 2001.
Fed officials expect interest rates to be at 5.1% in 2024, up from the 4.6% projected in June. Officials expect fewer cuts in 2025 with the median estimate for the benchmark rate to be at 3.9%, up from 3.4%.
The committee raised its projections for growth, and is looking for a better-than-expected labor market as well, with the jobless rate peaking at 4.1%, rather than 4.5%.
Pushback against further rate increases
With two more scheduled FOMC meetings in November and December, housing experts cautioned against further rate increases.
The Fed must consider the potential economic damage arising from any future rate hikes, Lawrence Yun, chief economist at National Association of Realtors, reiterated his position.
“Commercial real estate has come under stress from higher interest rates, which will further negatively impact community banks due to their large exposure to the sector. Therefore,the Fed needs to wait and not raise rates. Possible interest rate cuts then need to be considered once inflation is fully under control,” Yun said.
Overall data point to an accelerating slowdown but continues to be mixed because of some lagging indicators, Green noted.
Unemployment rates and the CPI component lags measures of market rents by around a year.
“With rates elevated into restrictive territory, I expect the Fed to be patient and hold off on any additional increases until it becomes clearer that an additional rate hike is warranted,” Green said.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is navigating turbulent waters. Its president just resigned in the wake of an explosive New York Times exposé that detailed dozens of allegations of sexual harassment and a culture of fear and retribution. The trade group also faces two massive class-action lawsuits that could forever upend the agent commission structure, and is fighting a separate legal battle with the Department of Justice.
Former NAR president Kenny Parcell denies the harassment allegations, and a NAR spokesperson previously told HousingWire that it does not tolerate discrimination, harassment or retaliation.
Some Realtors have called for executives to be fired and a wholesale reform to the structure of the trade group, which has 1.6 million members, the majority of whom are women.
NAR’s struggles are a focal point for the housing industry, as the association is the industry’s top policy advocate and among the biggest lobbying spenders in the nation.
The organization outspent every organization in the country in 2020 and 2022 and came in second behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in seven of the last 10 years. It is on pace for another second place finish this year.
No one in the real estate industry comes close to NAR’s lobbying budget. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae briefly outspent NAR in the early 2000s, but the association has held the industry’s top spot since 2006, according to OpenSecrets data.
Last year, it spent $81.7 million on lobbying, dwarfing the industry’s second highest amount: $6.8 million by the National Multifamily Housing Council.
The association spent more than $23.5 million in the first half of 2023, almost half of the entire industry’s spending.
Legislative priorities
“From its building located steps away from the United States Capitol, NAR advocates for federal policy initiatives that strengthen the ability of Americans to own, buy and sell real property,” NAR says on its website.
Unsurprisingly, housing is NAR’s most lobbied category over the last 25 years, according to OpenSecrets. Taxes, finance, insurance, and consumer product safety round out the top five.
NAR’s website lists its top priorities for 2023 as:
NAR’s disclosures this year cite 36 bills, according to OpenSecrets. Other policy topics include flood insurance, flood mitigation funding, data privacy, investment incentives for downtowns, and electronic notarizations, among others.
Over the last decade, the bills most most cited in the association’s disclosures are as follows:
The question many in capital markets have been asking since the GSEs were put into conservatorship is this: Without Fannie, Freddie, or the Fed, who will buy the agency MBS? Today we are seeing this play out with a shortage of MBS buyers to the tune of about $2 billion in demand per day.
Supply and demand — when demand is low, MBS prices will drop at sale and the corresponding yields will rise.
Late last year, Laurie Goodman, the famed MBS expert and a leader at the Urban Institute in Washington, penned an article in Barrons to explain why rates were so high. She gives a very thorough explanation as to why the 30/10 spread is so high, stating, “Before and during the Great Financial Crisis, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac portfolios essentially served as shock absorbers, buying mortgage-backed securities, or MBS, when spreads were wide, selling when they narrowed.
“In 2009-2010, the combined portfolios were over $1.5 trillion. In the wake of the Great Financial Crisis, Fannie and Freddie have been mandated to reduce their portfolio size. The two portfolios together are now under $200 billion. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve was a fairly consistent buyer of MBS after the financial crisis, as part of its quantitative easing strategy. But as of June 2022, the Fed began to allow its portfolio to run off.”
Today, as Laurie points out, the GSEs are restricted in what they can buy. Per the 4th amendment to the PSPA (preferred stock purchase agreement), essentially the governing document for the two companies in conservatorship, it is stated clearly. Historically, the GSEs could make up for the short in demand if needed.
For example, if the current short was absorbed by GSE purchases, the spread between 30-year mortgages and and the 10-year treasury would likely collapse to it’s more normalized level, likely bringing mortgage rates down about 100bps +/-.
But the PSPA 4th amendment states the following: “Limit Future Increases to the Retained Mortgage Portfolio: The PSPA cap on the GSEs’ retained mortgage portfolios will be lowered from the current cap of $250 billion to $225 billion by the end of 2022, aligning with the FHFA conservatorship cap the GSEs are required to comply with today, while providing the GSEs with flexibility to manage through the current economic environment. As of November 2020, Fannie Mae’s mortgage portfolio was $163 billion, and Freddie Mac’s mortgage portfolio was $193 billion.”
So why haven’t we seen spreads wider more often since conservatorship in 2008 until now? It’s simple really, the Federal Reserve engaged in three rounds of quantitative easing post-2008 during the Great Recession and then another massive round in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19 recession fears. They created the short in supply that pushes prices up and yields down.
The problem now is that we have the greatest quandary in the markets. We are missing the two largest buyers of MBS on this planet. And to top it off, the FDIC is auctioning off the MBS and Treasury portfolios of the failed SVB, Signature, and First RepublicBank, which only increases supply into the market.
In a recent article in International Banking, Viral V. Acharya, C.V. Starr professor of economics, department of finance, New York University Stern School of Business (NYU-Stern), and Satish Mansukhani, managing director, investment strategy at Rithm Capital, state, “The Fed is thus caught between a rock and a hard place, with the demand- and supply-side effects of its tightening working in opposite directions. Which way will the pendulum swing? It is hard to know, but this may precisely be why interest-rate volatility has remained high.”
This is not a small market. Agency MBS is the dominant feature of the mortgage market with an approximate $9 trillion in outstanding volume. The hole being created here is enormous.
So what are the options?
First is to just leave this alone and let the markets function without interference. This would likely be the goal of fiscal conservatives who have argued that this excessive involvement by the Fed and the GSEs over decades has resulted in the market dysfunction we see today. Industry vet James Johnson penned a great piece for Rob Chrisman’s daily report in which he describes the current supply/demand conundrum and calls the period we are in as the “great reset,” a very appropriate reflection on the scenario today.
But there are other options to consider, and the reason to consider other options is because this excessive mortgage spread is hurting the people that this current administration is the most concerned with protecting.
High rates make affordability a significant barrier to homeownership. And with no end in sight, we as a nation are likely to only widen the opportunity gap between wealthier Americans and those with less means. First-time homebuyers and people of color who often have less inherited wealth and lower wages are the ones impacted the most in a time like this.
More importantly, this scenario is the unfortunate outcome of putting too much stimulus into the economy during COVID-19 combined with supply chain shortages that resulted in hyper inflation, leading us to todays scenario.
So option No. 2 is this: let the GSEs use their roughly $119bb available in remaining capacity within the limits of the PSPA to begin some purchase activity. And if there was a modification to the PSPA to allow a slightly higher balance, the GSEs could do what they have done all during the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic and act as a “shock absorber” as Laurie Goodman describes. They could become tools to help stabilize a scenario, much of which was the result of the same set of agencies that produced the environment we are in today.
The unfortunate reality is that the FHFA would likely come under fire for using the permissible balance sheet to at least help temporarily. And those attacks would be something the administration would like to avoid in a heated election period. But this is an option and one that could help — particularly those who need the help the most and are now victims of hyper inflation that they did not participate in creating.
America is a great nation that has risen to beat back the Great Depression, two world wars, a variety of other conflicts, the oil patch crisis, and more leading up to the Great Recession and the COVID-19 crisis. But for the American dream, now threatened by this supply/demand imbalance, actions by federal agencies that played a partial role in the current scenario are also the ones that can help to balance out this dysfunction. And the ones who would be most impacted to the better would be those that need the help from our nation the most as they have been literally priced out of the housing market altogether.
And yes, there are other challenges, beginning with this terrible dearth in housing supply. But to use other variables as an excuse to not help here is a difficult argument to justify.
The bottom line is this, we have lost the biggest buyers of MBS in the world and this could keep rates artificially higher than would be the case in a more balanced supply versus demand environment. This is a project for the Biden administration to lead, which should include the NEC, Treasury, the Fed, HUD, and FHFA.
David Stevens has held various positions in real estate finance, including serving as senior vice president of single family at Freddie Mac, executive vice president at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, assistant secretary of Housing and FHA Commissioner, and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners.
To contact the author of this story: Dave Stevens at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sarah Wheeler at [email protected]
According to Ishbia, the FHFA years ago took action so Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would not push back loans for “illogical reasons, small reasons left and right or after a 36-month window.” However, it doesn’t seem to be working, Ishbia said.
“They are making billions, and lenders are barely scraping by, but they continue to make them buy back loans for small reasons here, little things that happened on a loan that maybe are not impacting the borrower’s success in that loan,” Ishbia said.
At the end of August, HousingWire reported on a new report by mergers-and-acquisitions consulting firm Sterling Point Advisors showing that loan-repurchase rates have been on the rise in recent quarters when many IMBs are struggling to stay in business.
In 2020, Fannie Mae reported $1.1 billion in repurchases on $1.4 trillion of single-family loan-acquisition volume (loans originated by lenders and purchased by Fannie Mae), or an eight basis-point repurchase rate. In Q1 2023, the GSE had $459 million in repurchases on about $68 billion in loan-acquisition volume or a 68 basis-point repurchase rate, the report shows.
“The industry is up in arms and is very frustrated with the amount of repurchases Fannie Mae and particularly Freddie Mac are pushing back on lenders,” Ishbia said. “A lot of trade groups, a lot of people are talking about it, and it’s impacting lenders, impacting mortgage people, and impacting consumers at the end of the day as well.”
The GSEs showed a different approach to buybacks in May during the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Secondary and Capital Markets Conference and Expo in New York. Fannie Mae’s position was that the loan-repurchase increases are an economic problem, not an underwriting process issue. Meanwhile, Freddie Mac said it’s in talks with lenders to address the problem through a more customer-focused approach.
Amid mounting concerns that loan-repurchase rates in upcoming quarters are likely to continue to trend upward, Freddie Mac told HousingWire last week that, “We’re seeing a positive trend in loan quality and materially fewer repurchase letters as a result of the progress we’ve made by working collaboratively with our industry partners in the past year. We will continue to look for opportunities to build on this progress.”
Freddie Mac also said they are “always looking for ways to improve our quality control processes, and we will continue to engage in open and productive dialogue with lenders to find ways to further improve loan quality while fostering sustainable homeownership.”
An emergency housing proclamation in the state of Hawaii declared by Gov. Josh Green (D) in July is conflicting with the desires of Maui residents as the island rebuilds after a devastating wildfire that destroyed the town of Lahaina.
The proclamation suspends several housing provisions, including historic preservation, environmental review, sunshine and collective bargaining laws. It replaces them with rules that permit rapid development and construction of new housing units, a move to address ballooning costs.
In a Thursday meeting of the Maui County Council, dozens of local residents said the proclamation could thwart forthcoming reconstruction efforts in Lahaina, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Chief Housing Officer Nani Medeiros said the town isn’t going to make any decisions under the declaration until the community is prepared.
A working group and other government officials are carrying out an assessment to identify available government and private land where new homes could be built to house Lahaina fire survivors.
“Infrastructure is the biggest challenge,” Medeiros said. “The meetings with the community members — the folks who have actually experienced the displacement — are key to any decisions,” on new construction.
Meanwhile, residents are encouraging tourists to return in order to encourage economic activity.
“Another way you can support Maui, come here,” local disc jockey Forest said on Mana’o Radio, NPR reported. “The Maui economy relies on tourism, to stay away now will just make the problem worse.”
Despite the destruction of Lahaina, 730 square miles of Maui — roughly 75% of the island — was untouched by the recent wildfire. Tourism accounts for the vast majority of the Maui economy.
An emergency housing proclamation in the state of Hawaii declared by Gov. Josh Green (D) in July is conflicting with the desires of Maui residents as the island rebuilds after a devastating wildfire that destroyed the town of Lahaina.
The proclamation suspends several housing provisions, including historic preservation, environmental review, sunshine and collective bargaining laws. It replaces them with rules that permit rapid development and construction of new housing units, a move to address ballooning costs.
In a Thursday meeting of the Maui County Council, dozens of local residents said the proclamation could thwart forthcoming reconstruction efforts in Lahaina, Honolulu Civil Beat reported.
Chief Housing Officer Nani Medeiros said the town isn’t going to make any decisions under the declaration until the community is prepared.
A working group and other government officials are carrying out an assessment to identify available government and private land where new homes could be built to house Lahaina fire survivors.
“Infrastructure is the biggest challenge,” Medeiros said. “The meetings with the community members — the folks who have actually experienced the displacement — are key to any decisions,” on new construction.
Meanwhile, residents are encouraging tourists to return in order to encourage economic activity.
“Another way you can support Maui, come here,” local disc jockey Forest said on Mana’o Radio, NPR reported. “The Maui economy relies on tourism, to stay away now will just make the problem worse.”
Despite the destruction of Lahaina, 730 square miles of Maui — roughly 75% of the island — was untouched by the recent wildfire. Tourism accounts for the vast majority of the Maui economy.