The Los Angeles City Council has reached a tentative deal with the union representing hotel workers to drop a controversial measure from the March ballot.
The ballot measure, backed by Unite Here Local 11, would require L.A. hotels to place unhoused people in their vacant rooms at the city’s expense. The proposal sparked fury from the hotel industry and anti-labor groups, which claimed putting unhoused people in hotels would hurt tourism and endanger employees.
A compromise submitted to the City Council last week would amend the initiative to allow hotels to opt into offering their unused hotel rooms voluntarily, instead of making it compulsory. In exchange, the city will commit to stricter regulations of Airbnb rentals, and require developers to replace any housing that’s destroyed to build hotels.
Unite Here Local 11 praised the deal for protecting housing. The union is expected to withdraw the original ordinance once the City Council approves the revised language.
Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez says the new proposal is “a compromise that everyone can live with.”
“I hope that they can look at this and say, hopefully, a compromise was made, and it could be a win-win for everybody,” he told KNX News’ Craig Fiegener. “And it avoids a very divisive and probably expensive ballot measure.”
The City Council is expected to vote on the revised ordinance this week. Unite Here Local 11 has until December 1 to pull the original ordinance from the ballot.
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