A recent I-Team investigation by NBC 4 news found hosts in LA are listing rent-stabilized apartments on Airbnb. This is not only illegal in LA, but also converts affordable housing into unregulated hotels, deepening the housing crisis in the city. The NBC 4 investigation featured an illegal listing at Park La Brea where the host used a bait and switch scam to get around LA’s ordinance prohibiting the use of rent-stabilized units for short-term rentals. Better Neighbors has already submitted multiple complaints to the City of Los Angeles about illegal listings there.

Park La Brea is recognized as a unique model of affordable living community. It is comprised of high-density, rent-stabilized units, and houses a community of long-term residents in the heart of the City of Los Angeles. Constructed to address a post-war housing shortage, Park La Brea stands as the largest and oldest rent-stabilized apartment community on this side of the Mississippi River. For generations, it has provided affordable housing to Los Angeles residents and workers. But, today, the unchecked operation of short-term rentals threatens to convert Park La Brea into a massive illegal hotel.

The Park La Brea Apartments are precisely the type of housing which the Los Angeles Home Sharing Ordinance was designed to preserve for Los Angeles residents and workers. Because Park La Brea consists exclusively of rent-stabilized units, it is categorically ineligible to be used for home-sharing. Park La Brea policy also prohibits long-term subleases by tenants. Despite the prohibition, many tenants are listing long-term subleases through the Airbnb platform.

Tell the City Planning Department to direct Airbnb to remove from its platform all Park La Brea listings, whether short-term or long-term, AND require Airbnb to look into address the bait and switch scam.