This article was produced by Capital & Main in partnership with ProPublica, an award-winning publication covering politics and California culture. It is co-published with permission.
In the midst of an ongoing housing emergency, the city of Los Angeles has struggled to keep rent-controlled housing, which includes some of the city’s most affordable dwelling units, from turning into short-term rentals. Even though a 2018 law prohibits such conversions, enforcement has been lax.
“Except in a handful of cases, we’re not actually doing that enforcement work in a meaningful way,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who chairs the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee and is working on recommendations to tighten enforcement.
For locals who want to keep their neighborhoods residential or visitors who want to avoid inadvertently booking a unit that skirts local law, navigating the Wild West that is L.A.’s vacation-rental market can be a challenge. This story covers some signs to watch out for and offers a quick two-step guide you can use to make sure your potential home share — or your neighbor’s — isn’t an illegally converted rent-controlled apartment.