Robin Urevich
How LA’s Illegal Short-Term Rentals Hide in Plain Sight on Booking Sites
Los Angeles officials are struggling to crack down on illegal rentals during a housing crisis. Here’s how to make sure you’re a responsible vacationer.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main,
Local Reporting Network
As the Olympics Approach, Los Angeles Considers Crackdown on Illegal Vacation Rentals
City officials are proposing stricter enforcement, higher fines and new technology in part to prevent rent-controlled apartments from being listed on Airbnb and Booking.com, the subject of a Capital & Main and ProPublica investigation.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main,
Local Reporting Network
In Los Angeles, Your Chic Vacation Rental May Be a Rent-Controlled Apartment
Amid an affordable housing crisis, dozens of rent-controlled buildings are listed on short-term rental websites. A 2018 law was supposed to stop that, but the city is struggling to enforce it.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, and Haru Coryne, ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
Los Angeles Orders More Residential Hotels to Stop Renting to Tourists
Twenty-one hotels have been cited so far. If the citations are enforced and upheld in court, hundreds of rooms could be turned back into low-cost permanent housing for the city’s poorest residents.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main,
Local Reporting Network
Residential Hotels Got Contracts Under the Los Angeles Mayor’s Homelessness Program Despite Violations
A city law sought to prevent low-cost housing from turning into hotels, but some landlords rented to tourists anyway. That didn’t stop them from receiving city funds for a new temporary shelter program.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, and Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
Los Angeles Mayor Orders Residential Hotels to Be Used for Temporary Homeless Housing
A 2008 city law intended hotels used as primary residences to be preserved as safety-net housing. But with little enforcement, some landlords had turned their buildings into tourist hotels.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main,
Local Reporting Network
LA Housing Department Proposes Increasing Residential Hotel Enforcement
Amid the city’s homelessness crisis, a Capital & Main and ProPublica investigation found, some landlords have turned buildings meant for low-cost housing into tourist hotels.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, with additional reporting by Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
LA Housing Department Demands Residential Hotels Stop Renting Rooms to Tourists
After a Capital & Main and ProPublica investigation found that landlords were turning low-cost housing into tourist hotels, the city ordered some building owners to comply with the law.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, and Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
How We Found What the City of Los Angeles Didn’t: Landlords Renting Low-Cost Housing to Tourists
Hotel ads, booking sites and guest reviews. Tourists staying in rooms meant for low-cost housing. Yet the city’s Housing Department has cited few landlords for violating the residential hotel law.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, with additional reporting by Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica, photography by Barbara Davidson for ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
Meet the People Uprooted by LA’s American Hotel
When the American Hotel converted into a tourist hotel, its long-term residents lost not just their affordable housing but the creative community that long thrived in the iconic building.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, and Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica, photography by Barbara Davidson for ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network
Los Angeles Housing Department Will Investigate Residential Hotels
Following a Capital & Main and ProPublica investigation, which found that buildings meant for housing are instead being rented to tourists, the mayor’s office asked for a review.
by Robin Urevich, Capital & Main, and Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica,
Local Reporting Network