Months after police officials warned the Los Angeles City Council they were not prepared to address new licensing rules for short-term rentals, including Airbnb, they still need more time to begin enforcing the law that took effect on July 1.
Django Sibley, interim chief executive of the Police Commission, said in a July 11 letter to the council that the agency “neither has the necessary regulations to implement” the so-called Responsible Hospitality Ordinance (RHO). Infrastructure, and no staffing.
The new law includes police licensing requirements for short-term rental and hotel operators, which supporters say will help the city crack down on party venues. But while the council launched a website where operators can apply for a license, it has not taken action against those who fail to comply.
Commission officials have been asking the City Council for months to direct the city’s chief administrative officer to “create an office dedicated to the administration and enforcement of this ordinance” or to delay its enactment for a year.
Sibley’s July 11 letter noted that “full implementation is not feasible” and that the commission “cannot and will not issue licenses, enforce police licensing requirements, or investigate complaints related to compliance with RHOs.”
The ordinance was the result of a last-minute agreement between the council and the politically powerful hotel workers union to avoid a controversial ballot measure that would have required hotels to provide vacant rooms to homeless residents to help alleviate the problem. city’s housing shortage.
Instead, the committee passed RHO, a bill that would require short-term rental owners, including Airbnb and Vrbo properties, to obtain a police permit to operate, like dozens of other businesses. An earlier Los Angeles Police Department report recommended an initial fee of $260 for short-term rental operators. The city council and nearby residents will have the right to challenge the issuance of the permit.
The commission is a five-member civilian oversight body that functions much like the Los Angeles Police Department’s board of directors. Its investigative division is already responsible for “processing, investigating, issuing and enforcing” more than 60 licenses issued by the Los Angeles Police Department, including those for cafes, bowling alleys, consignment shops and towing companies that provide live entertainment. Many licenses require a criminal background check and can cost hundreds of dollars.
The RHO was passed unanimously in November despite opposition from industry groups such as the hotel association. Los Angeles argued that this placed an unfair regulatory burden on small mom-and-pop operators.
Others questioned whether it would increase the LAPD’s workload.
Commission officials said they expect more than 10,000 hotels and short-term rentals across the city will be required to comply. They said the council would need to develop a new online portal to handle public complaints about problem properties and staff the enforcement unit with at least 25 staff at a cost of $2.85 million a year.
In a statement on Monday, Councilor John Lee acknowledged the council’s repeated argument that “they lack the staff and resources to enforce this ordinance.”
“The city often asks our departments to do more than they can do, so it’s not surprising that there isn’t a strong system in place to enforce the ordinance after the effective date and after the City Council failed to provide the necessary resources to the committee,” Lee said. Strange.
At a committee meeting earlier this year, some members were angry that the council had ordered it to take on the responsibility without additional support.
Commission Vice Chair Rasha Gerges-Shields said she found the commission’s decision inconsistent with a broader push to “reduce the LAPD’s footprint by identifying activities that can currently be accomplished through unarmed response.”
“Instead, it’s essentially creating an entirely new regulatory scheme” that relies on the police, she said.
The new responsibilities “will essentially transform the committee into the ‘Hotel and Airbnb Committee,'” she said.
Randy Renick, executive director of Better Neighbors LA, sees the accusations surrounding the ordinance as another sign of the city’s reluctance to address short-term rental issues. rights groups and housing advocates. He pointed to several recent shootings at off-the-books rental properties, which he said highlighted the need for police involvement.
“I think short-term rentals, the crime associated with them and the impact on the housing crisis need to be addressed on multiple fronts, and there are multiple city agencies that need to address this issue, including police,” he said. “The City Council is handing that responsibility over to Gave it to the police; they needed to do it.
Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.
