LOS ANGELES (Oct. 19, 2023) – Today, Angelenos Protecting Hospitality (APH) officially launched. APH is the lead group that will work with Los Angeles voters and stakeholders to defeat a ballot initiative that would force all hotels in the city to house homeless people next to paying guests.
Los Angeles residents are set to vote in March 2024 on whether to require all local hotels to house homeless people next to paying guests as part of a measure proposed by Unite Here, a labor union that represents LA-area hotel workers. If the initiative passes, LA would become the first city in American history to force hotels to house homeless people next to paying guests.
APH will work with community groups to educate LA voters about the harmful effects of Unite Here’s ballot initiative.
Opponents of the homeless in hotels ballot initiative include the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), the California Hotel & Lodging Association, the Hotel Association of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Business Federation, the Greater Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Northeast Los Angeles Hotel Owners Association, the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce, and other stakeholders.
LA has seen many failed attempts to solve the homelessness crisis, and this ballot measure is not a realistic solution. Using taxpayer dollars to house homeless individuals alongside paying guests in hotels for one night does nothing to solve the homelessness crisis facing LA. It would only endanger LA hotel employees, devastate tourism in the city, and ultimately destroy LA’s hotel industry.
APH is launching a six-figure paid advertising campaign to educate LA voters about the dangerous measure. The ad campaign warns that putting homeless people in hotels next to paying guests is nothing more than an expensive, taxpayer-funded band-aid that hurts tourism and puts hotel workers and guests at risk, while failing to provide homeless people the specialized care they need.
“Housing homeless people in hotels: Expensive. Dangerous. Wrong,” the ad says. Watch it here.
A Public Opinion Strategies poll commissioned by AHLA this year found that large majorities of LA residents say housing homeless people in hotels next to paying guests would unfairly burden hotel staff (81%), devastate the city’s tourism industry (70%), and create an unsafe workspace for hotel staff (69%).
According to the City of Los Angeles Initiative, Referendum & Recall Petition Handbook (page 7), Unite Here can withdraw the ballot initiative as long as it does so 88 days before the election, or Dec. 8.
“LA’s homeless population needs long-term solutions and specialized care that only social and health care workers can provide. It’s dangerous to force untrained hotel employees and guests to shoulder these responsibilities,” said APH President and AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. “Angelenos Protecting Hospitality will lead the effort defeat this terrible ballot initiative so we can protect hotel employees and guests, preserve LA’s vital tourism industry, and keep policymakers focused on finding serious solutions to LA’s homelessness problem.”
