WeHo Passes Emergency Ordinance Allowing Short Term Rentals

West Hollywood City Council Unanimously Passes Emergency Urgency Ordinance Allowing for Short Term Rental Leases in Response to Wildfire Housing Needs
On Tuesday evening, the West Hollywood City Council voted 5-0 to pass the Emergency Urgency Ordinance allowing for short term rental leases in response to skyrocketing demand for rental housing due to the wildfires. This rule will temporarily suspend the city’s recent Short Term Rental Ordinance which prohibited leases less than one year in length. This decision was made after a thorough discussion among the West Hollywood City Council and members of the public who were very supportive of the council item citing flexibility and availability of housing units to help renters and homeowners who were displaced by the recent wildfires.
The unanimous vote was approved as presented, however during Council discussions there was robust dialogue of the consequences of the motion. Councilmember Lauren Meister wrangled finding a balance “I understand the immediate need, but we have to remember that we approved the Short-Term Rental Ordinance to protect our existing rent stabilized housing stock, so we need to be thorough and not create unintended consequences.”
Freshman Councilmember Danny Hang opined “We must do our part to help families that are in need that lost their rental units due to the fire, we gotta do this now!”
Veteran Councilmember John Heilman provided sage insight on the current Rent Stabilization Ordinances that already provides tenant guardrails while reminding his colleagues that “Emergency Urgency ordinance is written to provide much needed flexibility for both tenants, housing providers and hotels for those to take a moment to breathe and assess their next steps.”
Councilmember Erickson asked, “What will the process look like, and will there be a report back opportunity on how this ordinance is performing and how many people we will be helping?” The City Manager replied to Councilmembers’ request that the best time that we can get a report back will be near the end of the fiscal year in the month of June.
GLAR thanks the City Council for their decision and will be monitoring this ordinance during the year for any updates or new information.