As reported in the last newsletter, neighbors in Studio City’s Tujunga Village/Woodbridge Park have been fighting an uphill battle to curb illegal Short-Term Rentals (STRs) at a well-established “Party House” in the neighborhood. These efforts started following a huge party on June 25 that drew hundreds of rowdy teenagers and young adults, some displaying firearms, requiring a major and costly LAPD response with more than 20 LAPD officers in riot gear. The ABC7 news report can be found at:
https://abc7.com/studio-city-los-angeles-party-house-riot-gear/13465794/
LA’s Home Sharing Ordinance only permits short-term rentals (STRs) (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) in a person’s primary residence and it is well documented that the Party House owner does not reside in the property. Yet despite a clear violation of the Ordinance, multiple inspections by the City, an order to comply with penalties, and repeated monitoring and follow-up by City Council President Paul Krekorian in whose district this house lies, the house is still being rented over 115 days since the June incident with no end in sight.
This situation exposes the weakness of LA’s Home Sharing Ordinance which is riddled with loopholes and is not strictly enforced. Yet, joined by other neighborhoods throughout LA, our strong advocacy to the City Council led by Council President Krekorian to address these shortcomings is starting to bear fruit. Two long-awaited reports (14-1635-S10 & 14-1635-S11) on home sharing are now available for viewing online and accessible on the City’s website. Both of these reports focus on enforcement, and Krekorian’s motion (14-1635-S11) is focused on penalties and cost recovery. They do an excellent job of detailing the issue and proposing strategies, but more work is needed on tactics to address the concerns. Unfortunately, this will take a lot of time. We thank Councilmember Krekorian for these efforts, and we hope that this work will lead to a more effective home-sharing system in the City that protects our neighborhoods. We urge you to read the reports, share them with your neighbors, and advocate for action at upcoming hearings. You can contact us at woodbridgeparkpartyhouse@gmail.com to receive more information and to get more involved.
In addition, we continue to urge Keller Williams (KW) Studio City to stop enabling STRs at the Party House which is being openly advertised as such by KW. Nearly 100 neighbors have now signed a petition to send a strong message to Keller Williams regarding: listings of STRs in our neighborhood. KW is enabling this illegal activity by “listing’ the property for over one year with no open houses, visible marketing activities, or price adjustments calling into question KW’s motives. Party house operators commonly use active real estate listings as a public relations tactic to appease the community and prevent complaints.
Please sign the petition using this link: https://bit.ly/46g0esL
At a strategic level, more and more information and coverage of Airbnb’s negative impacts on housing availability and affordability and its direct contribution to increasing homelessness are coming forward. Here are links to a couple of articles on this topic. They are well worth a read.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/airbnb-hotel-hosting-cleaning-fees/675355/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/airbnb-new-york-housing-market-can-match/675561/