LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council unanimously advanced a new law that will require owners of short-term rentals and hotels to get police permits.

The new ordinance cracks down on so-called “party houses” that have created public safety issues for residents. 

While the new police permitting will affect companies like Airbnb, it also has an effect on hotels and hotel workers.

Unite Here Local 11 co-president Kurt Petersen joined “Inside the Issues” host Amrit Singh to discuss what role the new law will play on workers.

“If someone is renting out their room for a little more money, that’s fine, but that is not what Airbnb has become in the last decade,” Petersen said.

Unite Here Local 11 is the union that represents the hotel workers in Los Angeles. They were pushing the LA City Council to crack down on short-term rental housing, because of the impact it had on housing.

“Housing that should be for residents, that is meant for long-term residential use, has been converted into illegal hotel rooms,” Petersen said. “... We cannot afford, at this moment, in this city, to lose any more housing to short-term rentals or to anything else.”

The new ordinance comes as part of a compromise between the City Council and the hotel union, around a proposed ballot measure that would have forced hotels to place homeless people in vacant rooms. 

Unite Here Local 11 pulled their ballot measure. In return, the City Council agreed to introduce policies like police permitting for short-term rentals and new regulations to make sure no housing units are eliminated during construction of new developments.

“It is not the only solution, but it is a step forward,” Petersen said.

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