The Los Angeles City Council voted to withdraw from the March 2024 ballot a union-backed measure that would have required all hotels in the city to house homeless people next to paying guests. The ballot measure was proposed by Unite Here Local 11, a union representing Los Angeles hospitality workers. Unite Here agreed to remove the ballot measure under pressure from hoteliers and the LA City Council and the LA City Council made that decision official Dec. 5 by voting to approve that request.
“For nearly two years, Unite Here created an atmosphere of dangerous uncertainty for hotel employees, hoteliers and the City of Los Angeles by clinging to a proposal virtually everyone thinks is outrageous—forcing hotels to house homeless people next to paying guests. Today’s vote by the council removes Unite Here’s ridiculous homeless-in-hotels proposal from the ballot, and the union’s consent to this vote makes clear that its irresponsible demand was just a bargaining chip, rather than a serious attempt to address the homelessness crisis gripping LA,” AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers said in a statement. “We thank the LA City Council for brokering a compromise to get the homeless-in-hotels measure off the ballot. With its actions in LA, Unite Here showed that even the safety and security of its own members is up for negotiation. We urge leaders in LA and other cities to use this episode to inform their future interactions with Unite Here and to put hotel employee and guest safety first, even when Unite Here refuses to do so.”
Also on Dec. 5, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated and remanded the case of Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. (The issue before the Court was whether the plaintiff had standing to sue the hotel under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) without any intention of visiting the property.)
"The Americans with Disabilities Act is a critical civil rights law, but this case was never about legal compliance. It was about whether serial litigants with no intention of becoming hotel guests have standing to sue hotels," AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers said in a statement. "... Because Acheson and the hotel industry fought back, the plaintiff dismissed hundreds of suits against hotels and vowed to the court she would never again bring these types of claims. This will bring some solace to small business hoteliers who for years have been victimized by drive-by and click-by tester lawsuits.”