UCLA

As housing and homelessness have become central issues in Los Angeles County, the role of AirBnB has become a frequent subject of debate. Local organizations and think tanks have cited AirBnB as exacerbating the housing crisis in the county, while the company has responded by stating it allows working families to afford their homes in an increasingly unaffordable housing market. While there have been some attempts to assess AirBnB’s effect on housing markets in San Francisco and New York City, similar attempts have not been performed on Los Angeles. This article covers the use of tools applied in other city locations to assess the landscape of AirBnB listings and their potential interactions with the local housing market. Using geocoding techniques and booking calculation algorithms applied in different markets, it can be determined that the vast majority of AirBnB’s revenue in the county comes from entire home rentals that appear to be hotelized. While Ellis Act applications correlate with AirBnB listings with some statistical significance, it is clear AirBnB is one among multiple factors affecting the Los Angeles housing market.