When Marni Lustig saw a flier for the Save Our Services campaign, she didn’t immediately grasp what she was reading.
The flier appeared to be about Los Angeles’ budget crisis, potential layoffs of city workers and possible cuts to public services.
But when she spotted a sentence about expanding short-term rentals, she realized the campaign applied directly to her.
Lustig, a fashion photographer, already rents her Pico-Robertson home on Airbnb. She said she would buy another home in L.A. and rent it too, if the campaign achieves its goal of legalizing short-term rentals of second homes — which, according to supporters, would generate tax revenue to help address the budget crisis.
“I’d like to be able to buy in L.A., but because we’re not allowed to [rent second homes] here, I’ve been looking outside of the city. So they’ll get my money, not L.A.,” Lustig said.
In the last few weeks, residents around the city have been flooded with fliers hung on their doors and canvassers polling them about Save Our Services. Some of the fliers don’t mention short-term rentals and only describe the budget crisis while including a QR code for the campaign’s website.
That website paints a grim picture of the city’s finances and proposes a solution: allowing “a limited number of people to rent their second homes to travelers.”
Supporters say the plan could generate about $80 million in tax revenue annually, especially as tourists descend on Los Angeles for the 2026 World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl, and 2028 Olympics.
“We can generate millions in new tourism revenue dedicated for L.A.’s long-term recovery — paid for by tourists, not taxpayers,” the website says.
Fliers for the campaign, which urges the City Council to amend the short-term rental ordinance to include second homes, list as supporters a broad coalition of groups, from unions like Teamsters Local 911 to the business-aligned Central City Assn.
Conspicuously absent from the website and fliers is Airbnb, the short-term rental giant that is a backer of the campaign and would profit from the change.
Nick Gerber, an organizer for the hotel and restaurant workers union Unite Here Local 11, which opposes the campaign, said that when a canvasser knocked on his door, he asked who the campaign’s supporters were. He knew the campaign involved short-term rentals, so he was surprised not to see Airbnb’s name.
“I looked at the back of the shirt with all the [organizations] listed and did not see any of these short-term rental companies, but right away, I thought this was clearly something they were behind,” Gerber said.
City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, a former Unite Here organizer, said he learned of Save Our Services when he came across a flier in his parents’ South L.A. neighborhood.
“It doesn’t say Airbnb on it, but this is something that Airbnb has been pushing for years, and they’re using what I think is pretty deceptive tactics to try to get sympathy from the public,” Soto-Martínez said.
When the City Council debated a home sharing ordinance in 2018, Airbnb pushed for second homes to be included. But the council limited the final version to primary residences, in part to avoid decreasing the number of long-term rental properties amid a housing crisis.
Airbnb confirmed that it is involved in Save Our Services but declined to say whether it has contributed any money to the campaign and did not respond to questions about its exact role.
“It’s pretty simple: new tax revenue from tourists can give Los Angeles much-needed funding for city services and union jobs that are at risk,” said Justin Wesson, senior public policy manager for Airbnb.
Wesson said that Airbnb has organized a “diverse coalition” for the campaign and will continue to “support practical short-term rental policies that balance the benefits of tourism with community needs.”
The campaign does not appear to be registered with the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission, according to the commission’s website, and Airbnb did not immediately respond to a question about whether the campaign has registered.
Anyone who spends $5,000 or more to attempt to influence municipal legislation, and who is not a lobbyist, is required to register with the commission as a “major filer” and report their spending.
A commission spokesperson said there was no record of a major filer report from Airbnb after 2016.
Airbnb said in an email that 70% of the 50,000 people polled by canvassers supported the Save Our Services campaign.
The campaign website notes that the additional tax revenue would come in two streams: an estimated $38 million from the sales tax generated by tourists spending money at local businesses and another $41 million from the transient occupancy tax of 14% on short-term rentals.
The city of Los Angeles faced a $1-billion budget shortfall this year, closing the gap through proposed layoffs and other cuts. The financial woes are likely to continue for several years, amid weak tax revenues, skyrocketing legal payouts and increasingly expensive union contracts.
Critics of Save Our Services said that Airbnb hosts often evade the transient occupancy tax and that the city should step up its enforcement of the tax instead of opening up more homes for short-term rentals.
Randy Renick, executive director of Better Neighbors LA, which focuses on regulating short-term rentals, said evading the tax is “the fundamental issue,” with some Airbnb hosts claiming their residences are outside city limits.
Maria Hernandez, a spokesperson for Unite Here, which is part of the Better Neighbors LA coalition, said an increase in short-term rentals would exacerbate the city’s housing shortage by removing units from the long-term market.
“We are facing a housing crisis for working people, and this only makes it worse,” Hernandez said. “The way for the city to address its budget crisis is to enforce existing laws, fining the landlords who illegally convert housing to hotels, and making sure the platforms actually pay the taxes they avoid.”
The campaign has created some strange bedfellows. The hotel industry and Unite Here have battled over a $30 hotel and airport worker minimum wage, among other issues, but have aligned against Save Our Services.
City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who often spars with Soto-Martínez, also opposes the campaign, saying she doesn’t want to create an incentive for people to buy up properties and turn them into short-term rentals. She added that the city’s limited housing stock should be for the people who live and work here.
“It’s where I actually align with my colleague,” she said of Soto-Martínez.
Still, Save Our Services supporters say a short-term rental expansion would be an effective way to raise revenue.
“Labor, community, housing, business, and civic organizations have come together to find immediate and practical solutions that would help generate nearly $80 million in new annual revenue to save jobs and services, protect Angelenos’ livelihoods, and stabilize the city’s finances,” said Eric Tate, executive secretary treasurer for Teamsters Joint Council 42, in a statement.
The post The fliers say ‘Save Our Services.’ Airbnb is actually pulling the strings appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
