On September 8, we joined our affordable housing partners at City Hall. We reminded them of the impact short-term rentals are having on residents and neighborhoods while they drag their feet on enforceable regulation. We had dozens of supporters on hand and we shared many stories of lost housing and lost neighborhoods. Supporters were wearing shirts with the number 4001 (and counting) printed on them—symbolizing the number of housing units lost to short-term rentals all over City. We told the Council that every day they wait to take action, 4 additional units are removed from the market—making the current crisis increasingly worse.

Click below to listen to KNX 1070 coverage of our action at City Hall

Next Hearing

We suspect that the next hearing of the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee will be in October. As usual, we will be organizing our supporters to be a loud voice for the Council to consider.

Airbnb's Influence on Local Politics

Airbnb has been able to get away with profiting from unenforced regulations. A new documentary exposes how the tech giant has influenced politics in San Francisco in its favor. What's happening in San Francisco is not unique - we see the same influence in Los Angeles and around the world. We think this documentary is a great cautionary tale. 

Updates From Near and Far

• The Los Angeles City Attorney is finally cracking down  on a few party houses in the Hollywood Hills. It’s too little too late, but we hope these neighbors see some relief and that this actions sends a message to other party house operators that their actions are illegal. 

• Our neighbors in West Hollywood, where short-term rentals are not permitted, continue to be inundated with illegal rentals, and 60% are in rent stabilized housing. We need to use this as an example in Los Angeles of what to be leery of, as we get closer to creating regulations here. 

• Monterey continues to crack down on short-term rentals by issuing hefty fines on violators. Residential property owners in any of Monterey's residential zoning districts that violate the prohibition of short-term rentals not only receive a $1,000 penalty, in the event that such owners don't comply by immediately removing any advertisement for such rentals, continued violations will be cited at $100 to $200 per day. 

• The horror stories of unsafe Airbnb homes continue with this story from New Zealand. Six people were hospitalized after they escaped a fierce house fire in the Christchurch suburb of Sumner. The wooden, three-story house on Clifton Terrace went up in flames. 

• And finally, this recent story is simply unimaginable. Loftium is a new business related to short-term rentals. It will provide prospective homebuyers with up to $50,000 for a down payment, as long as they are willing to continuously list an extra bedroom on Airbnb for one to three years and share most of the income with Loftium over that time. Developments like this only enhance the need for the City of Los Angeles to enact regulations NOW, before it’s too late.