Why are STR regulations taking so long in LA?

We’re losing about 5,000 units a year to the short-term rental market," says Cynthia Strathmann, executive director of Strategic Actions for a Just Economy. "I’m just really exasperated at the role the short-term rental market is playing in the housing crisis and the lack of movement to regulate it in an appropriate way."

Airbnb spokeswoman Connie Llanos (formerly the spokeswoman for one Mayor Eric Garcetti) says short-term rentals have had a "minimal impact" on L.A.'s housing market. She notes that according to Airbnb data, the number of entire homes available for rent most of the year on Airbnb amounts to just .18 percent of the city's housing units.

But short-term rentals affect different neighborhoods differently. According to a 2015 study by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, there were 1,137 Airbnb listings in Venice Beach alone, amounting to what the study called "as many as 12.5 percent of all housing units" in the seaside neighborhood. (Airbnb claims the report relies on "inaccurate data.") Indeed, stroll through a random residential street in Venice and you'll notice a plethora of number-pads next to doorknobs, the unmistakable calling card of an Airbnb rental.