WRITTEN PUBLIC
COMMENTS RECEIVED
1 Jessika Vasquez
From: Chloe Chen
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 10:39 AM
To: City Clerk
Cc: Aaron Savage; Michael Forbes
Subject: Fw: Study Session: Short Term Rentals During Olympics or Any Other Time FYI
Chloe Chen
(She/Her)
Principal Planner
Long Range Planning
Community Development Department
p (310) 285-1194
e [email protected]
If you are a tenant of a multi-family unit in Beverly Hills, you may qualify for up to a $1,000 reimbursement for eligible small home improvements – visit the Handy Worker Program for more information and how to apply! NOTE: Planning applications and project resubmittals are currently accepted via email. However, planning applications and project resubmittals are not considered received by the City until such submittal is acknowledged by a Planning Division staff member. If you have questions regarding the status of your planning application, please call 310-285-1000 and ask to speak to a planner. If you have questions about the status of your project resubmittal, please reach out to your assigned planner directly.
From: Peter Ostroff
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 9:11 AM
To: Huma Ahmed <[email protected]>; Chloe Chen <[email protected]>; Craig Corman MARY WELLS 12-Sharona Nazarian <[email protected]>; Lester Freedman Rebecca Pynoos < Ryan Gohlich
<[email protected]>
Cc: Peter Ostroff
Subject: Study Session: Short Term Rentals During Olympics or Any Other Time
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See the story on the front page of the LA Times this morning about party houses.
Regardless of the rules on the books, short term rentals are an enforcement nightmare. I know because the house across the street from me persists with constant short term rentals despite my efforts. 2 Think: residents first and not merchants or the small minority who might covet rental income or want to attend parties.
Just say NO!!
Peter Ostroff
250 East 1st Street, Suite 1201; Los Angeles, California 90012 213.336.5900 betterneighborsla.org
August 11, 2026
Beverly Hills City Council
455 North Rexford Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
[email protected]
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
RE: Better Neighbors Comment Letter – Discussion to Explore Temporarily Allowing Short-Term Rentals During the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games (A-3) - Oppose Dear Honorable Mayor Corman, Vice Mayor Wells, and Councilmembers, Better Neighbors LA (“BNLA”) is a coalition of tenants, housing advocates, and community members committed to protecting long-term housing by curbing illegal short-term rental (“STR”) activity. Through research and data analysis, we assess the STR industry’s impact on affordable housing and neighborhood stability.
BNLA opposes the Council’s consideration of allowing short term rentals citywide during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Even temporary changes will have long-lasting impacts on housing affordability, neighborhood stability, and enforcement capacity. We urge the Council to maintain the current ban on STRs or risk:
1. losing critical housing stock, displacing residents, and impacting neighborhood stability and character,
2. creating confusion and undermining your STR policy,
3. introducing enforcement challenges and enabling illegal STRs.
1. Increasing STR supply will remove housing from the market and displace residents.
Beverly Hills has one of the strongest STR ordinances out there. In July 2025, your Council decided to ban STRs and institute a one-year minimum lease to best protect housing and address neighborhood and enforcement concerns. Allowing STRs during LA28 will incentivize tenant displacement, and, in the long-term, it will reduce available housing and increase rental prices. There is a significant body of research demonstrating that STRs increase rents and housing costs, that regulations reverse these trends.1 It is clear that STRs are lucrative, providing an incentive for property owners to convert housing into hotels. For instance, in Los Angeles, the 1 https://www.rentalscaleup.com/short-term-rental-ordinances-austin-bc-scottsdale/; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1540-6229.12440; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094119021000383; https://upgo.lab.mcgill.ca/publication/canada-strrent/wachsmuth_st_hilaire_public_preview.pdf Better Neighbors Comment Letter
Agenda Item A-3: LA28 Temporary STR Allowance
250 East 1st Street, Suite 1201; Los Angeles, California 90012 213.336.5900 betterneighborsla.org
STR “tipping point,” where an STR provides more rental income than a traditional year-long lease for a tenant, is 62 days.2 Property owners in Beverly Hills can likely make what they would in a year with a long-term tenant during the two-month STR program the city is proposing, especially given that accommodations rates will peak during LA28. Temporary changes, particularly ones that provide a pathway to lucrative investments, have permanent effects and staying power.
A temporary STR allowance would benefit a small number of property owners while deepening inequities for the broader community. Groups vulnerable to displacement, like renters, seniors, and lower-income households, will bear the burden of reduced housing supply and rising rents. According to 2024 Los Angeles County Department of Public Health survey data, nearly 50% of Beverly Hills households are already housing burdened3 and 32% are experiencing severe housing burden, spending 50% or more of their income on housing.4 This is a population the Council should prioritize.
2. Temporary changes to STR regulations will create confusion, undermine the integrity of the existing policy, and risk permanent changes.
Before the current STR Ordinance, Beverly Hills struggled with confusion over STR regulations and a lack of compliance. Introducing a two-month lapse in STR regulations will likely cause further confusion and result in decreased compliance with the existing regulations.
Past experience underscores these risks. In the aftermath of the Los Angeles Fires, wellintentioned urgency ordinances meant to house displaced residents were exploited long after their expiration both by hosts and STR platforms. One platform was even sued by the Los Angeles City Attorney for price gouging.5 Temporary measures can have enduring, unintended consequences.
A short-term carveout also weakens the city’s Ordinance. Allowing STRs, even temporarily, signals that the rules are negotiable. Known to pursue litigation to ensure their ability to short-term rent, hosts and platforms may later argue that the temporary allowance demonstrates that STRs should be permanently allowed, making future restrictions harder for the city to defend.
3. Loosening regulations weakens enforcement and fuels illegal STRs.
Beverly Hills already faces enforcement challenges under its current STR policy, and a two-month regulatory shift may exacerbate these challenges. BNLA identified 745 currently active STR listings in Beverly Hills on the Airbnb platform alone, with over 600 of these listings available for less than 30 days.
6 These findings indicate significant illegal STR activity in the city, even a year after the revised Ordinance. The Council should focus on putting mechanisms in 2 https://cityclerk.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2025/25-0029-s1_rpt_dcp_4-02-26.pdf 3 https://data.lacounty.gov/maps/24b60f480d43414bb75a067133bf41f0 4https://data.lacounty.gov/datasets/24b60f480d43414bb75a067133bf41f0_0/explore?location=34.061572%2C119.434295%2C6.77 5 https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/los-angeles-sues-airbnb-over-alleged-price-gouging-after-january-wildfires244487237897 6 Data from Inside Airbnb, June 2026. https://insideairbnb.com/ Better Neighbors Comment Letter
Agenda Item A-3: LA28 Temporary STR Allowance
250 East 1st Street, Suite 1201; Los Angeles, California 90012 213.336.5900 betterneighborsla.org
place to implement its current STR laws, rather than taking on the challenge of enforcing a temporary ordinance and its aftermath.
In August 2024, Code Enforcement Manager Leslie Medina spoke of the city’s limited enforcement resources, citing shortages in staffing to monitor and verify violations of the former STR Ordinance. At that time, Medina clearly stated that a ban would ease enforcement concerns by making it easier to verify a violation.
7 The revised Ordinance enables the city to better
enforce and collect fines for STR violations. Temporarily lifting the ban will once again complicate enforcement and, as our data demonstrates, illegal STRs are difficult to remove. The existing ban remains the strongest enforcement tool and weakening it will expand illegal operations.
BNLA points to other cities that are taking a different approach. For example, Manhattan Beach considered allowing STRs during the FIFA World Cup games but ultimately decided against it, prioritizing long-term housing.
8 And Irvine is an example of a city that has had a
positive impact from their STR ban yet continues to struggle with enforcement. After Irvine passed their STR ban in 2018, long-term rents decreased 3% on average.9 Yet city staff identified at least 347 illegal STRs in the city currently.10 The Council is now considering amendments to their Ordinance that would strengthen enforcement, using provisions under the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act (SB 346). Beverly Hills should consider this approach.
Lastly, this temporary STR program will create significant administrative costs (permitting, monitoring, enforcement and complaint response) that Beverly Hills will not recoup through TOT revenue. STR revenue projections during major events are frequently overstated.11 Beverly Hills risks spending more on staffing and compliance than it will gain.
Conclusion
The negative impacts of STRs outweigh any short-term benefits. STRs displace residents, erode housing affordability and create negative harms including noise, trash, parking issues and safety concerns. We urge the Council to safeguard the city’s housing protections by opposing this item and maintaining the ban on STRs in Beverly Hills. Should you have any questions, please contact Maura O’Neill at [email protected].
Sincerely,
/s/
Randy Renick
7 https://beverlyhills.granicus.com/player/clip/9883?view_id=57&redirect=true 8 https://manhattanbeach.granicus.com/player/clip/5138?view_id=4&redirect=true 9 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1540-6229.12440 10 https://irvine.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=68&event_id=2890&meta_id=190791 11 https://www.wsj.com/business/hospitality/airbnb-hosts-prepped-their-homes-for-a-world-cup-windfall-theyre-still-waitingfcd38b57?st=Qixy1z&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink; https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240628-paris-airbnbgoldrush-ends-as-olympics-approach; https://www.11alive.com/article/sports/soccer/world-cup/world-cup-visitors-gave-someatlanta-short-term-rentals-a-boost-but-many-hosts-fell-short-of-expectations/85-ca023a93-ac65-4da7-a51d-8662d7c7d650 1 Jessika Vasquez
From: Deborah Blum
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 1:13 PM
To: City Clerk
Subject: To read at meeting: Item 2-A
CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER
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Dear Mayor Corman and Honorable Members of the City Council, The Olympics, and all the fanfare that will surround them, provide the perfect opportunity to showcase our city to the world.
Numerous families will be attending these events, and as the mother of three sons - now grown - I know from experience that travelers who are married with children prefer houses to hotel rooms. If we don't open our homes, our neighboring cities will reap the benefit of our restrictive ordinance, and along with this missed opportunity will follow a loss of income to our cafes, restaurants, and shops - not to mention to our own residents who may be in need of ways to supplement their income.
I come before you again to support Short Term Rentals, not just in my own case, but for other residents who understand that a community willing to offer hospitality spreads good will to all who visit - and to others who simply hear of what we've done.
These rentals introduce travelers to the best of what Beverly Hills has to offer, and here I am not referring to luxury hotels, but to our wonderful residents who gladly open their homes.
With all of this in mind, I strongly urge you to make an allowance to the ordinance passed last September.
Sincerely,
Deborah Blum
Some people who received this message don't often get email from earn why this is important 1 Jessika Vasquez
From: Magdalena Davis
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 2:31 PM
To: City Clerk
Subject: Comment for SS - Olympics item
Importance: High
Hi City Clerk – I received the email (last minute) below from the Romanian Consul General. They cannot be here, but would like to know if we can read it at the meeting.
Its item 3 at Study
Magdalena Davis Jones
She/Her/Hers
Community Outreach Manager
D: (310) 285.1098
O: (310) 285.1014
[email protected]
City of Beverly Hills
455 N Rexford Dr.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
www.beverlyhills.org
From: Los Angeles Consulat General <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 1:42 PM
To: Magdalena Davis <[email protected]>
Subject: BH location for LA28 RO Delegation
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Dear Honorable Mayor and City Council members,
I hope you are well! We are excited that the City of Beverly Hills is underway preparing for the LA Olympic Games in 2028. I’m reaching out personally because we are in the process of organizing Romania’s official presence (“Casa României”) for the LA Olympic Games in 2028, and Beverly Hills is, of course, our preferred location.
2 As you discuss rentals today, please know that a private home would be ideal for our official use to host official meetings, cultural events, and hospitality gatherings during the Olympic period (one month prior and the month of the Games). We understand during discussions with the owner, we were informed that the City regulations require a minimum 12-month residential lease, which unfortunately makes our intended two-month lease impossible under current rules.
Given the exceptional and temporary nature of the Olympic Games, I wanted to kindly ask you to consider during your meeting today whether there might be any pathway — a temporary waiver, special permit, or alternative structure — that could allow such a short-term lease strictly for this international event.
Our intention is to be fully respectful of local regulations and the community, and of course we would comply with any conditions the City may consider appropriate. We truly believe “Casa României” could bring positive visibility, diplomatic presence, and cultural value to Beverly Hills during LA28.
I would greatly appreciate your consideration and guidance, we await on how best to proceed.
Warmly,
Lucia Sava
General Consul
Consulatul General al României
la Los Angeles
11766 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 200
Los Angeles, California 90025
Telefon: +1 (310) 444-0043
Fax: +1 (310) 445-0043
Pagină web:
https://losangeles.mae.ro
E-mail: [email protected]
This message is confidential and is property of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is exclusively destined to the person mentioned as addressee, as well as to any other person authorized to receive it. In case you are not the intended addressee, we hereby inform you that the disclosure, copying or distribution of the present i nformation, or the initiation of any action based on it are strictly forbidden and determine legal responsibility. If you have received it by mistake, please notify the sender and delete it from your system. Thank you.