Councilwoman Nithya Raman, 4th District, introduced a motion on Aug. 25 aimed at enforcing the home-sharing ordinance passed by the City Council in 2018.

The motion seeks to remedy the challenge of enforcement of unpermitted and non-compliant home-sharing operations.

The motion, co-presented by Mike Bonin, 11th District; Bob Blumenfield, 3rd District; and Paul Koretz, 5th district, requires the Department of City Planning to provide recommendations on how to identify unpermitted listings, cite non-compliant properties and create a dedicated unit that would consolidate the various aspects of home-sharing compliance and enforcement in one multidisciplinary team.

According to a McGill University report prepared for Better Neighbors Los Angeles, more than one-third of Los Angeles’ advertised short-term rental listings have been illegal since the home sharing ordinance went into effect.

“Councilmember Raman’s motion is exactly the kind of proactive step we need from the City Council to protect affordable housing” BNLA representative Nancy Hanna said.

The motion directs the Department of City Planning to consider the home-sharing regulatory and enforcement models of other cities that have seen success, including Austin, New Orleans and San Francisco.

Within 90 days, the department will report back with a plan for the creation of a centralized digital database to better coordinate data tracking of non-compliant properties for monitoring and enforcement purposes.

“We are in the midst of an unprecedented affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles – one that has only been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic,” Raman said. “It is criminal for us to continue allowing rent-stabilized units to be removed from the city’s housing stock and to let tenants be subjected to displacement pressures because we are unable to enforce the ordinance. We must do better.”