By Iris Craige, Assistant Director of Policy and Research, Land Use and Equitable Development

January 21, 2025

Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved an emergency resolution to temporarily relax regulations on short-term rentals (STRs) across the county. Understandably, they want to make it easier for people displaced by the recent fires to find temporary housing. But the changes threaten to exacerbate L.A.’s housing crisis and harm the very residents they seek to help. Here’s why:

• Lifting caps on STRs will take units off the market and drive rents up in the middle of an affordable housing crisis. A 2022 study by McGill University showed that over the past decade, short-term rentals raised average annual rents by $810 and removed 2,600 units from Los Angeles’ rental market.
• Many are already exploiting the housing crisis by engaging in rent gouging. Incentivizing property owners to convert their rent-controlled units into STRs for higher profits will leave everybody with fewer affordable housing options.

It would make much more sense to issue a blanket ban on STRs. This would put empty homes back into the rental market, increasing the number of units available and mitigating the negative impacts of STRs on housing affordability. 

Today’s emergency resolution also makes L.A. County STRs available only to residents impacted by the fires. But, the county is leaving it up to the STR companies to do the vetting, and they are notoriously bad at self-enforcement. The Board of Supervisors should also have implemented safeguards against price-gouging and unlawful eviction to ensure the order cannot be misused by opportunistic landlords and hosts.

Government has a responsibility to protect housing stability and affordability, especially during times of crisis. But relaxing STR regulations as a response to the fires will do more harm than good. The county should adopt an STR ban if they want to prioritize long-term housing for displaced residents and safeguard against the negative impacts of STRs on Los Angeles’ already tight rental market.