LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A metro council member is taking on short-term hotel rentals, looking to ban them city-wide in an effort to stop possible human trafficking.
Twelve-hour rental minimums would be the new time constraint set for hotels across Louisville should the ordinance pass.
"We have LMPD officers who are busy serving hotels, drawing away the attention from some of the needs of our neighborhoods," said Councilwoman Nicole George of District 21.
The issues are being reported most often at four hotels in particular:
- Red Roof Inn on Preston Highway
- Super 8 on Preston Highway
- Red Roof Inn off Bishop Lane
- Economy Inn on Bardstown Road.
Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) Maj. Corey Robinson said that out of the 5,001 calls for service between January of 2020 and January of 2021 more than 30% of those calls, 1,514, were to these four hotels.
"That's a third of our time spent at those hotels, that time could be spent patrolling your streets, making sure we keep burglars at bay," said Robinson.
George said other cities such as Nashville, Birmingham, Charlotte and Los Angeles have time constraints for their hotels as well.
"I don't think anyone is under the delusion that this is going to dry up all illicit activities in hotels," said George. "What we do hope is that it generates awareness around the prohibition and it gives another opportunity to cite."
Hotels can expect a $500 fine should they break the rule of renting a room for any time less than the proposed 12-hour minimum.
But where do those fines go?
George said the money will go towards creating a youth housing fund. "The idea is any money generated from the citations would be directed to the office of resiliency and community services to address homelessness amongst youth," said George.
Robinson said this would be an added level of help for the department.
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