A proposal to force hotel developers to replace housing lost in the development process advanced out of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission last week as part of a deal between the city and a local labor union.
On Nov. 1, Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian and Unite Here Local 11 reached a deal to withdraw the Responsible Hotels Ordinance from the March ballot. Instead, a city ordinance will be introduced, incorporating restrictions on new hotel construction from the original ballot measure.
Unite Here Local 11 originally qualified a measure for the March election that would have required hotels to house homeless individuals through a voucher program.
Krekorian helped broker a deal that withdraws the mandatory proposal from the ballot and replaces it with a voluntary program similar to the existing Inside Safe program.
The city will maintain a registry of participating hotels, negotiating per-room rates. Hotels cannot refuse service based on housing status, and the Housing Department will collaborate with nonprofits experienced in assisting unhoused populations. The funding source for vouchers remains unclear but the idea has already been endorsed by five City Council members, including representatives from the Trade and Tourism Committee.
The Los Angeles Planning Commission voted 6-0 last week to advance the deal that includes provisions to establish new permits for hotel construction and require hotels to replace any housing units lost in the construction of new lodging.
Unite Here is in the midst of a months-long contract dispute with regional hotels over wages and working conditions. In addition to rolling picket lines, the union has qualified several ballot measures for the upcoming election.
"We have said all along that our contract campaign has been about two things: housing for our members where they work and a living wage," said Unite Here Local 11 Co-President Kurt Petersen when the deal was first announced. "With this ordinance, we have done more to protect housing than any single contract demand would have done. The fight for a living wage continues."
At the time of the initial deal, Krekorian said losing housing for hotels is a danger for everyone in Los Angeles.
"It hurts everyone who’s looking for a home in Los Angeles," he said. "The hospitality industry is a vital and necessary component of our local economy, and we need hotels to welcome the thousands of visitors we receive, but new hotel construction cannot come at the cost of our current housing stock. Irresponsible hotel and short-term rental operators cannot be allowed to endanger the public safety or impair the quality of life in our neighborhoods."
The proposed ordinance would require developers to replace any housing lost to hotel construction, increase community input into hotel projects, strengthen oversight of properties that host disturbing parties or tolerating trafficking or other criminal activity on their premises (including short-term rentals, hotels and other properties) and increase the supply of interim housing.
All new hotel developments would have to obtain a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) which requires a public review process and all hotels, proposed or existing, and all short-term rentals, would have to obtain a police permit, through a process that would screen owners and operators of such properties for prior criminal activity or any history of creating a public nuisance.
The ordinance also creates a voluntary registry where participating hotels will notify the City of vacant rooms that can be made available for interim housing.
With passage by the Planning Commission, the debate now moves to the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee. The proposal has to actually make it through the entire approval process before the ballot measure is officially withdrawn.
In addition to the Los Angeles ballot measure regarding homeless housing, Unite Here has filed paperwork in several communities for other issues.
In Santa Monica, the union has put forward two proposals.
The first is to increase the minimum wage for hotel workers to $30 per hour. It would also require hotels to sanitize and clean rooms each night, prohibit the use of contract or temporary employees to clean rooms, make hotels liable for violations incurred by temporary staffing agencies and limit the workload on custodial staff.
Under the second, the union wants to impose an additional 7% tax on hotel rooms and an additional 15% fee on home-share/vacation rentals. That money would be administered by a new seven-member committee for the sole use of promoting, providing and developing affordable housing for hospitality workers.
The wage measure has been reviewed by the City Attorney’s office and has about five months left to gather signatures to qualify one or both for the ballot. The tax measure is still outstanding.
