Los Angeles Municipal Code Art. 21 Voluntary Housing Program

(Added by Ord. No. 188,072, Eff. 7/1/24.)

Section

This article shall be known as the Voluntary Housing Program.

“Department” means the Los Angeles Housing Department.

“Guest Room” means any room, suite of rooms, dwelling unit, cottage, or bungalow intended to be used by a guest of a Hotel for transient sleeping purposes.

“Hotel” means an establishment that provides temporary lodging for payment in the form of overnight accommodations in guest rooms to transient patrons for periods of thirty consecutive calendar days or less. “Hotel” includes hotels, motor lodges, motels, apartment hotels, transient-occupancy residential structures, private residential clubs, tourist courts, corporate housing, Short-Term Rentals as defined in Section 12.22 A.32. of this Code and hostels that contain both dormitory-style accommodations and private guest rooms that may be reserved, meeting the definition set forth above. Except as provided above, the term “Hotel” also does not include rooming houses, boarding houses, single-room occupancy housing, a residential hotel as defined in Section 50519 of the California Health and Safety Code, or any housing available only to students of an education institution, or licensed bed and breakfast establishments within a single unit residence.

“Fair Market Rate” means the room rate, as defined in Section 17561 of the California Business and Professions Code, that is made available to the public for hotel accommodations, including any promotional, volume, loyalty or other discounts that are generally available to the public.

“Person” means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, business trust, estate, trust, association, joint venture, agency, instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity, whether domestic or foreign.

“Unhoused Individual or Family” means an individual or family who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, or who has a primary nighttime residence in an emergency shelter, on the street or in a park, in a vehicle, or in an enclosure or structure that is not authorized or fit for human habitation.

A. Subject to the availability of funding and at the discretion of the City, the Department shall establish a program to place Unhoused Individuals or Families in vacant hotel Guest Rooms, at Hotels that voluntarily participate in this program. Elements of the program shall include the following:

1. The Department shall develop a registry that allows for Hotels that choose to participate in this Voluntary Housing Program to pre-register with the City fulfilling contracting and negotiated per-room rates.

Participation shall be purely voluntary and at the sole discretion of the hotel.

2. The Department shall develop a program for paying no more than a Fair Market Rate, or such other rate as the Department may negotiate with a participating Hotel, for vacant hotel Guest Rooms on behalf of

Unhoused Individuals or Families. The payment system may utilize government or philanthropic sources, or another means by which the City or its designee pays for lodging on behalf of Unhoused Individuals or Families.

3. The Department shall, on an ongoing basis, identify Hotels registered to participate in this voluntary program with vacant Guest Rooms, refer Unhoused Families or Individuals to such Hotels, and provide

payment for such families’ and individuals’ lodging.

4. The Department shall seek and accept bids to contract with one or more bona fide non-profit organizations with a demonstrated record of working with unhoused populations to assist in administering the

program. If the Department opts to have such nonprofit organization(s) pay for lodging under the program on the Department’s behalf, it shall establish a program to provide grants to the nonprofit organization(s) for use in making such payments, and shall not rely solely on a program of reimbursing the non-profit organization(s) for lodging payments made under this section that have been advanced by the nonprofit organization(s).

5. This article is not intended to replace or preclude any additional programs of the City to arrange or pay for the lodging of Unhoused Individuals or Families in Hotels.

It shall be unlawful to refuse to provide lodging to an individual or family seeking accommodations using the program set forth in Section 51.51 of this Code because the individual or family is unable to present a government-issued identification document if the individual or family presents the Hotel with a housing voucher or other documentation prescribed by the Department demonstrating that the individual or family has been authorized to use the program.

Each participating Hotel shall communicate to the Department or its designee, in a form that the Department prescribes, the number of available rooms at the Hotel and the number of days each available room may be rented. Nothing in this Subsection shall require a Hotel to hold or reserve any available room for program beneficiaries.

It shall remain unlawful for a Hotel Operator to refuse to provide lodging to an individual or family solely on the basis of the fact, or the perception, that the individual or family seeking accommodations is an Unhoused Individual or Family.

The Department shall have the power to render interpretations of this article and to adopt, publish, and enforce rules and regulations to clarify its application, which shall have the force of law. These interpretations, rules, and regulations shall be in conformity with the intent and purpose of this article.