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February 6, 2023

Mr. Vince Bertoni, Director of Planning, Los Angeles City Planning

200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Mr. Osama Younan, General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety

201 N. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Ms. Hydee Feldstein Soto, City Attorney, Los Angeles City Attorney

200 N. Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Ms. Ann Sewill, General Manager, Los Angeles Housing Department

1200 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017

Mr. Michel Moore, Chief of Police, Los Angeles Police Department

100 W. 1st St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Dear Mr. Bertoni, Mr. Younan, Ms. Soto, Ms. Sewill, and Mr. Moore, 

Our offices are coming together to request the prioritization of improving enforcement of the Home Sharing Ordinance (HSO). Since the HSO was passed, the Departments of City Planning, Housing, Building and Safety, Police, and the City Attorney's Office have made significant progress in cracking down on non-compliant listings and removing thousands of non-compliant properties or bad actors from hosting platforms. However, the process of removing listings and enforcing fines can be lengthy and cumbersome, particularly when dealing with chronic bad actors and incidents of violent crime. 

The consequences of insufficient enforcement are significant. Public safety is impacted. On January 28, 2023, three people were killed and four wounded outside of a short-term rental in Benedict Canyon. Last year, a shooting occurred outside a short-term rental in Studio City after what was described in news reports as an out-of-control party, and another individual was shot and killed at a short-term rental in Encino. There are many more incidents of a similar nature at short-term rental locations across the city. 

Short-term rentals also have destabilizing effects in communities by removing units from the long-term rental housing market - especially rent-stabilized units - facilitating unauthorized commercial activities, and creating quality-of-life issues for neighbors related to noise and parking.  While we sincerely appreciate your diligence in dealing with infringements with the resources available, we believe that more can be done. 

Most recently, the Council asked for reports on improving enforcement that have not yet been provided. Council File 14-1635-S10, which focuses on improving the process of enforcement overall, was introduced in August 2021, and passed in April 2022. Additionally, Council File 14-1635-S11, which asks for swift action when there are incidents of violence, was passed in January 2022. We urgently request that you provide reports with clear and vigorous recommendations and next steps.  

Other cities have been able to curb bad actors through aggressive monitoring and enforcement. For example, Portland has a map of all registered short-term rentals and requires that hosts occupy their dwelling unit for at least 270 days during each calendar year and send a letter to their neighbors and submit proof of that letter with their home-sharing application. Inglewood requires that the owner of the short-term rental be a natural person. San Francisco has a dedicated Office of Short-Term Rentals responsible for administering enforcement which also runs a centralized website to file complaints as guests or about potential illegal hosting activities. New Orleans has a public database of current, expired, and revoked permits. In Seattle, all hosting platforms have to submit quarterly reports. Toronto’s enforcement targets ghost hotels and houses, defined as properties with no primary residents being used as full-time short-term operations. Santa Monica has a Private Right of Action option for individual enforcement.

It is crucial to learn from these cities and to update our existing policy as needed and as soon as possible. As elected officials, we want to ensure that your respective departments are provided the necessary discretion, direction, resources, and tools to effectively and expeditiously address dangerous situations and other violations and improper abuses of the City’s Home Sharing Ordinance. 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely, 

Nithya Raman 

Councilmember, 4th Council District

City of Los Angeles

Katy Yaroslavsky

Councilmember, 5th Council District

City of Los Angeles 

For Immediate Release: October 7, 2022

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LOS ANGELES -- Today, the Los Angeles City Council adopted legislation introduced by Councilmember Nithya Raman, along with Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, Chair of Public Safety, Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Councilmember Mike Bonin, to develop a multi-year plan to fully shift responsibility for nonviolent calls to unarmed civilians rather than armed officers, and to implement alternative models and methods for traffic safety enforcement that do not rely on armed law enforcement. This legislation builds on significant efforts taken by the City of Los Angeles to transition away from armed responses in situations where an armed officer is non-essential, seeking to coordinate and expand the various pilots already underway and in development within the City. 

In the summer of 2020, tens of thousands of Angelenos took to the streets after the murder of George Floyd to demand a reimagining and transformation of our public safety system. Over the past two years, the City of Los Angeles has responded by launching several key pilot programs including the Call Redirection to Ensure Suicide Safety (CRESS) Program, which diverts non-imminent suicide calls to the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Crisis Call Center, launched in February 2021, and the Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE) program which diverts some 9-1-1 calls related to homelessness in Hollywood away from law enforcement to trained, unarmed teams of outreach workers and mental or behavioral health clinicians, launched in January 2021. 

“In 2020, Angelenos gave this city a mandate to develop an alternate approach to public safety,” said Councilmember Raman. “While the City has made important progress with a few key pilot programs, a multi-year plan for how these programs will move beyond the pilot phase has yet to be developed. With this legislation, we are establishing a timeline for how and when these changes will be implemented in our communities. This is the next and necessary step on the path to achieving a truly restructured approach to public safety.”

“As a City, we can achieve greater service delivery by providing the right response for nonviolent calls that will ensure the health and welfare for the individuals that need it most,” Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez stated. “We need to have consistent metrics and objectives across all nonviolent programs that are met with sustainable funding sources. As Chair of Public Safety and a member of the Budget & Finance Committee, I am invested in seeing a multi-year funding strategy that outlines these pilots presented to this Council.”

"I hope this joint effort will help speed up common sense reform in Los Angeles," added Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. "For years, initiatives supported by the Council have been defined as disparate 'pilot projects,'  bogged down in endless 'studies' or have never made any progress towards implementation. An alternative response to safety-based traffic enforcement, mental health crisis, and transparency in the discipline process are a few such examples." 

“It is long past time for Los Angeles to move past small pilot projects and start making big, fundamental changes that reimagine public safety,” said Councilmember Mike Bonin, who has led successful efforts to secure alternatives to armed enforcement in his position on the Board of Directors of LA Metro. “Our current model too often results in injury and death when police respond to mental health calls or conduct traffic enforcement. We need to invest in new programs that really keep people safe.”

This legislation instructs the City Administrative Officer, with the assistance of relevant City departments and external consultants, to report back within 180 days with a multi-year transition plan, including a year-by-year expansion and potential consolidation plan for the pilot programs the City has already launched or is currently developing, the necessary budget allocations that should be reserved in the budget for this purpose each fiscal year, and an analysis of whether these public safety services should eventually be brought under the purview of City departments rather than external providers. 

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For Immediate Release: August 24, 2022

LOS ANGELES -- Today, Councilmember Nithya Raman, along with Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, Chair of Public Safety, Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Councilmember Mike Bonin, introduced a motion, seconded by Councilmember Kevin De Leon, to develop a multi-year plan to fully shift responsibility for nonviolent calls to unarmed civilians rather than armed officers, and implementation of alternative models and methods for traffic safety enforcement that do not rely on armed law enforcement. This legislation builds on significant efforts taken by the City of Los Angeles to transition away from armed responses in situations where an armed officer is non-essential, seeking to coordinate and expand the various pilots already underway and in development within the City. 

In the summer of 2020, tens of thousands of Angelenos took to the streets after the murder of George Floyd to demand a reimagining and transformation of our public safety system. Over the past two years, the City of Los Angeles has responded by launching several key pilot programs including the Call Redirection to Ensure Suicide Safety (CRESS) Program, which diverts non-imminent suicide calls to the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Crisis Call Center, launched in February 2021, and the Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE) program which diverts some 9-1-1 calls related to homelessness in Hollywood away from law enforcement to trained, unarmed teams of outreach workers and mental or behavioral health clinicians, launched in January 2021. 

“In 2020, Angelenos gave this city a mandate to develop an alternate approach to public safety,” said Councilmember Raman. “While the City has made important progress with a few key pilot programs, a multi-year plan for how these programs will move beyond the pilot phase has yet to be developed. With this legislation, we are establishing a timeline for how and when these changes will be implemented in our communities. This is the next and necessary step on the path to achieving a truly restructured approach to public safety.”

“As a City, we can achieve greater service delivery by providing the right response for nonviolent calls that will ensure the health and welfare for the individuals that need it most,” Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez stated. “We need to have consistent metrics and objectives across all nonviolent programs that are met with sustainable funding sources. As Chair of Public Safety and a member of the Budget & Finance Committee, I am invested in seeing a multi-year funding strategy that outlines these pilots presented to this Council.”

"I hope this joint effort will help speed up common sense reform in Los Angeles," added Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. "For years, initiatives supported by the Council have been defined as disparate 'pilot projects,'  bogged down in endless 'studies' or have never made any progress towards implementation. An alternative response to safety-based traffic enforcement, mental health crisis, and transparency in the discipline process are a few such examples." 

“It is long past time for Los Angeles to move past small pilot projects and start making big, fundamental changes that reimagine public safety,” said Councilmember Mike Bonin, who has led successful efforts to secure alternatives to armed enforcement in his position on the Board of Directors of LA Metro. “Our current model too often results in injury and death when police respond to mental health calls or conduct traffic enforcement. We need to invest in new programs that really keep people safe.”

This legislation instructs the City Administrative Officer, with the assistance of relevant City departments and external consultants, to report back within 180 days with a multi-year transition plan, including a year-by-year expansion and potential consolidation plan for the pilot programs the City has already launched or is currently developing, the necessary budget allocations that should be reserved in the budget for this purpose each fiscal year, and an analysis of whether these public safety services should eventually be brought under the purview of City departments rather than external providers. 

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For Immediate Release: June 17, 2022

LA CITY COUNCIL APPROVES RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE FRAMEWORK FOR REPORTING HATE CRIMES

LOS ANGELES -- Today, the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a series of recommendations for the City to expand and improve hate incident reporting through 311, better streamline data coming from different reporting pathways around these kinds of incidents, and implement solutions that address current barriers to hate crime reporting. The recommendations, outlined in a report by City departments, were shared in response to Councilmember Nithya Raman’s motion (Council File 21-0984) to improve the City’s framework for hate incident and hate crime reporting and data collection, passed by the Council in November 2021.

“I feel strongly about this work: the steep rise in hate crimes in LA demands informed policy decisions and broad mitigation strategies. But it is hard to move forward without more reporting and better data that allows us to understand trends on hate crimes,” said Councilmember Raman. “Implementing the recommendations in this report will help us take those next steps in our City, and help us craft culturally informed responses, including expanding investments in hate crime responses that go beyond law enforcement alone.”

The joint report from Civil + Human Rights and Equity Department (LA CHRED), Information Technology Agency (ITA), and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), overviews current City processes for reporting of hate and data collection methods, and identifies existing barriers to hate reporting and trend analysis. The report further provides recommendations for Council action to address these barriers including directing the City Administrative Officer (CAO) to identify funding and resources to build capacity for 311 staff to receive trauma-informed training in order to field hate reporting calls, and directing the CAO and CHRED to identify funding sources to support hate reporting improvements, improve the efficacy of bystander interventions, and support research partnerships to study the feasibility of a reporting app. 

“Hate can have no home in Los Angeles. I am so grateful to leaders like Councilmember Raman for working to protect our most vulnerable, and to make Los Angeles a national leader in hate prevention,” said LA Civil Rights Department Executive Director Capri Maddox. “Today's vote will allow us to better track and respond to hate crimes, as well as develop models for hate intervention and prevention. It is just one way we are building an LA for all.”

Today’s Council vote is a final approval of the recommended action, formalizing the directions to each department.

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