Amid an affordable housing crisis, dozens of rent-controlled buildings are listed on short-term rental websites. A 2018 law was supposed to stop that, but the city is struggling to enforce it.
Twenty-one hotels have been cited so far. If the citations are enforced and upheld in court, hundreds of rooms could be turned back into low-cost permanent housing for the city’s poorest residents.
A city law sought to prevent low-cost housing from turning into hotels, but some landlords rented to tourists anyway. That didn’t stop them from receiving city funds for a new temporary shelter program.
When the American Hotel converted into a tourist hotel, its long-term residents lost not just their affordable housing but the creative community that long thrived in the iconic building.
Following a Capital & Main and ProPublica investigation, which found that buildings meant for housing are instead being rented to tourists, the mayor’s office asked for a review.
Fifteen years ago, Los Angeles passed a law to preserve residential hotels as housing of last resort. Now, amid the homelessness crisis, some hotels may be violating that law by offering rooms to tourists.