Los Angeles is not enforcing its law against illegal short-term rentals facilitated by Airbnb and other companies, according to a report from the advocacy group Better Neighbors Los Angeles released on Feb. 24.
Short-term rental (STR) companies are controversial in gentrifying cities because they take housing off the market when owners rent units to tourists instead of local tenants — essentially converting rental housing units into hotels. In New York City, where officials are considering enforcing its law restricting STRs more aggressively, the city could convert an estimated 10,000 listings back into rental housing.
Los Angeles adopted its Home-Sharing Ordinance (HSO) in 2018, hoping to regulate the growth of STRs in the city. The law required any homes listed for short-term rental to be the host’s primary residence for more than six months of the year, made hosts register with the city, prohibited converting rent-controlled units to short-term rentals and more.
But the city is not enforcing the law, even though it is collecting thousands of violations, according to a new report by Better Neighbors LA, which calls itself a coalition of “housing advocates, neighborhood groups, businesses and workers.” It formed in 2014 around the concern that short-term rentals were worsening gentrification in Los Angeles. The authors of the report found an “extraordinarily high rate of non-compliance” with the city’s Home-Sharing Ordinance.
Los Angeles’ Department of City Planning is primarily tasked with enforcing the HSO. The Department was not able to respond to requests for comment by publication time.