LOS ANGELES—City Planning has launched a new online
system that makes it easier to identify and take down illegal
short-term rental listings. The system incorporates technology to
enable the Department to automate the collection and verification of
short-term rental listings.
The Application
Programming Interface (API) implements the agreement, developed by City
Planning, that Airbnb entered into with the City. The agreement
provides additional recourse for Los Angeles to initiate actions
against platforms that allow unregistered or illegal listings to
continue to advertise online. A notable feature of the API is its
ability to remove unregistered properties across the City that are not
owner-occupied but operating as party homes.
By using the API,
Los Angeles is leading the conversation on how cities can incorporate
technology to improve the quality of their services. In the case of
Home-Sharing, this online system is an example of City Planning
partnering with property owners, rental platforms, and neighbors alike
to find innovative solutions and achieve better compliance.
Until recently,
cities did not see the need to regulate short-term rentals. With the
growth of the internet and the sharing economy, and particularly with
Airbnb’s launch in 2008, the home-sharing model took root. Today,
individuals and families seek out homes, condominiums, and apartments
for nightly rentals, as opposed to simply booking hotel
accommodations—prompting the City Council to establish a regulatory
framework in Los Angeles.
Since the start
of enforcement in November 2019, Los Angeles has witnessed a 64 percent
decrease in short-term listings, amounting to over 23,000 fewer
citywide listings as of August 1, 2020. With the launch of the API this
month, the overall numbers have decreased by an additional 14 percent
(78 percent, in total), of which more than 1,350 ineligible listings
were removed last week alone during the pre-testing phase leading up to
the rollout of the API.
“In developing
this system, we looked first and foremost to ways we can ensure data
safety and security using an encrypted, cloud-based database,” said
Vince Bertoni, Director of Planning. “But we also wanted a system that
was able to rely on technology to run and create reports—a framework
that would enable the City to pursue the takedown of illegal listings
with greater positive results, beyond what we may have even originally
imagined to be possible.”
In addition to
assisting with enforcement, the API provides Los Angeles with the
ability to monitor many of the world’s short-term rental websites using
secure artificial intelligence algorithms that link multiple listings
for the same property across hosting platforms. Another benefit of this
system is its project management capability. The online management
system gives City Planning the means to store and manage its
home-sharing registration and permits in one central location, without
having to maintain and consult manual spreadsheets.
“By integrating
multiple types of permitting, compliance monitoring, and enforcement
into one integrated cloud-based system with a secure external API, the
entire City can now seamlessly and quickly address compliance issues
and send take-down notices to the relevant short-term rental platforms
in real time,” said Ulrik Binzer, General Manager and founder of
Granicus’ Host Compliance division, which has designed and built the
new system for City Planning. “No other city in the world has this
capability at this time, and I expect that Los Angeles’s new innovative
system will serve as a model for countless other cities.”
Airbnb will be
the first hosting platform to pilot this program. Once fully
operational, Airbnb listings that are ineligible or without a
registration number will be removed on a daily basis. These ineligible
listings include rent stabilized and affordable housing units, as well
as units that were either subject to recent evictions under the Ellis
Act or have been registered on the “Proactive Prohibition” list by the
landlord or manager in charge of the property.
About the
Home-Sharing Program
The City Council
set up the Home-Sharing Program (CF 14-1635-S2) to prevent the wholesale conversion of
homes into rental properties. The program established a regulatory
framework to restrict short-term rentals to hosts' primary residences.
Residents of Los Angeles may rent their primary residence, provided
that they qualify, by registering through the City’s online portal and adhere to all of the requirements as
specified under the adopted ordinance.
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