Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people have been paying closer attention to how rules, laws, and regulations get enforced and what that means about who we value. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the subsequent global uprisings, these distinctions have only become starker.
In 2019 short term rentals of properties that are not a primary residence were outlawed in Los Angeles with primary residence being defined as the place where a host lives for at least six months out of the year. This ban is the result of a years-long push from tenant organizers and advocates who saw the connection between Airbnb and social cleansing. In theory, this means that most Airbnb hotels, or the renting of vacant apartment units on sites like Airbnb, should have been shut down. In reality, most Airbnbs of this type stayed on the market because this regulation has not been enforced. According to the LA Times, as of early June, nearly 5,000 Airbnb listings for short-term rentals were not registered with the city. The city’s own analysis found that 6,000 were out of compliance on Airbnb’s platform— roughly 42% of active listing on all platforms in Los Angeles.
The short term rental ordinance is popular and supported by many tenants in Los Angeles, particularly Hollywood and Venice. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were doing regular outreach and hosting community events, and heard consistently from tenants that one of the biggest threats they face is Airbnb. They know that Airbnbs put their access to housing at risk since out of town tourists are willing to pay higher prices for a given property than a tenant is able to pay. In essence, units that were once someone’s home are removed from the market and converted to hotel rooms, raising the price of rent and displacing the individuals or family living in that home.
Organizers and community members hoped that in passing the ordinance, landlords would no longer be able to use housing as hotel rooms for tourists. In reality, many of these Airbnb have continued to operate because these ordinances have not been enforced.
Many people are under the impression that Airbnb is a website and app primarily used for renting out spare rooms in primary residences. This is not the case, as nearly 63% of Airbnb’s listings in LA county are for an entire home. The app is frequently used by landlords to run what are de-facto hotels in units that are zoned for residence. In some cases, entire buildings full of tenants have been either evicted or rents raised higher than anyone could realistically be expected to pay so that landlords can convert these homes into hotel rooms. The laws preventing this from happening are not being enforced because few resources are allocated to enforce them. Additionally, the city refuses to enforce any penalties against Airbnb because, according to city planning, it is “easier” to prove violations against hosts. Airbnb has spent more than $280,000 on lobbying and other expenditures in L.A in the first half of 2020. Landlords are simply utilizing what Airbnb and the city have teamed up in creating: a platform and system ripe for tenant abuse.
Instead of protecting tenants, the city has allocated $8.4 million dollars to the LAPD to patrol the streets around Mayor Garcetti’s “A Bridge Home” shelters to forcibly remove anyone sleeping out of them. The message from officials is crystal clear; they care more about making the city hospitable to wealthy tourists than taking care of the people of Los Angeles. Even while Airbnb units sit empty due to the current pandemic, the city refuses to use these units for housing and instead continues to criminalize our unhoused neighbors.
While unhoused Angelenos die in disproportionate numbers due to the pandemic, the few Airbnb units currently in use are cleaned between visitors by non-unionized staff, meaning these workers cannot collectively bargain for better working conditions. Not having a union, like the hospitality workers in typical hotels, means it is harder to collectively bargain for adequate sick leave and PPE. In addition to COVID related hazards, because these units are illegal and unregulated, there can be structural damages to the unit itself dangerous to both the workers cleaning them and the tourists using them.
As we march closer to the 2028 LA Olympics, there is a looming threat of a repeat of the 2008 housing crisis, with new Airbnb investment following displacement and foreclosures. As we have found working with tenants at The Fig in DTLA, the Olympics are already being used to justify displacing working people for gentrification. Airbnb will undoubtedly be a driving force in Los Angeles leading up to 2028, as they are partnering with the Olympics for the next ten years.
We are not asking individuals to make “better” choices when traveling. As long as Airbnb hotels continue to exist, someone will use them. As long as the city allows a 38 billion dollar online rental company to operate above the law and to write their own rules, the system will be exploited for maximum profit. We want to end this form of Airbnb short term rental abuse, and get the laws currently on the book enforced. Our elected leaders continue to prioritize tourism over the safety, health, and well-being of tenants and workers even in the middle of a pandemic and new wave of our eviction crisis.
Join us and demand that they keep the current regulations on the books and start actually enforcing them.
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The Home Sharing Ordinance, which would roll back the existing regulations on short-term rentals, is currently working its way through the City Planning Commission. With so much recent media attention around the short term rental laws and massive turnout at the first hearing, the ordinance has unsurprisingly been removed from the CPC agenda on August 13 and pushed to an unknown date in September. It seems clear that the city wants to use bureaucratic delays to keep pushing this through, but we’re not going to let that happen.
Sign up below if you want to receive alerts and updates about next steps, as well as suggested messaging and public hearing toolkits. They can keep delaying, but we’ll be ready.