By the Keep LA Housed Coalition (KLAH)

January 13, 2025

As the devastating wildfires continue to burn and cause untold destruction, housing has become even more of a critical issue for Angelenos. With widespread reports of price gouging already taking place, it is not too soon for our leaders to begin discussing how they will protect renters from the physical and economic damage that has occurred. There is a dire need for swift enforcement of anti-price gouging laws and immediate measures to protect renters from exploitation. 

Renters in communities across LA County have been displaced. Many tenants lost their homes in the fires. Additionally, thousands of homeowners are entering the rental market on a temporary or permanent basis. Businesses and commercial districts have also been destroyed, leading to losses in income. This surge in demand for housing will only compound our already-historic housing and homelessness crisis. We need rapid policy change to prevent spikes in rents and evictions, and ensure stability as our County moves forward.

Tenants are coming forward in need of urgent assistance as they face a range of challenges in the wake of the wildfires. Some are being evicted because their landlords, having lost their own homes in the fires, now seek to reclaim rental properties for personal use. Others have lost their homes entirely and are left questioning their rights—whether they are entitled to return to their units after rebuilding, if landlords are obligated to rebuild within a specific time frame, and whether landlords must provide financial assistance or alternative housing in the interim. Adding to the confusion, misinformation from county officials about the availability of housing vouchers has left renters without clear guidance on where to turn. 

We have been here before. During the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates pushed our elected leaders to offer pragmatic solutions to ensuring that Angelenos remained housed through massive economic upheaval. These protections prevented countless people from becoming homeless. We understand what policies tenants need to feel safe and secure in their housing, and what tools our governments have to enact those policies. 

Evictions devastate a family’s stability and can lead to homelessness. Despite this, eviction courts continue to operate while the County is on fire. At this time, when fire victims are also looking for new shelter, our leaders should do everything in their power to limit evictions.

Our organizations collectively demand the following urgent actions from our leaders:

Stop Evictions While the Emergency Persists

We call on the Los Angeles Superior Court and the LA County Sheriff to delay eviction cases until we can ensure that tenants will have a safe landing. 

• The Presiding Judge must institute a court holiday for the purposes of answering newly-filed unlawful detainers, for the duration of the local emergency. 
• The Presiding Judge must stay all unlawful detainer proceedings during the local emergency, except where necessary to protect public health and safety. In addition, the courts should also consider a suspension on parking enforcement in affected areas, and automatic forgiveness of parking tickets issued during the emergency. 
• The Sheriff must not execute unlawful detainer writs of possession for the duration of the emergency.

Enact an Emergency Eviction Moratorium and Protections for Renters

The fires have affected people all across our County. We call on the leaders of all 88 cities, as well as the Board of Supervisors, to institute emergency tenant protections. While the most immediate impacts such as mandatory and warned evacuations have occurred in cities such as the City of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu, Calabasas, Pasadena, La Canada-Flintridge, Glendale, and unincorporated parts of LA County including Altadena and Topanga Canyon, cities across the County are experiencing air pollution and evacuees have relocated beyond the immediately impacted areas. 

In addition to individual cities, we call on the Board of Supervisors to use their expanded powers during a state of emergency to create, clear, uniform eviction protections Countywide. 

Tenant protections that are needed include:

• Freeze rents countywide. Despite anti-price gouging laws, landlords have already begun inflating rents to take advantage of desperate homeseekers. Rents should be kept level for the duration of the emergency – everyone’s focus at this time should be surviving, not profiting.
• Prohibit evictions. Particularly in places and for units where these are largely unregulated, existing tenants are at risk of being evicted in favor of a new family seeking housing. We need a full eviction moratorium until we understand the scope of impact from the fire on renters.
  • No-fault evictions, particularly owner move-in evictions, need to be narrowly limited to prevent abuse and ensure that any tenants displaced at this time are given adequate time and financial resources to secure replacement housing. Applicable relocation requirements should be enforced. 
  • Tenants should not be evicted for failing to pay rent when their income has been disrupted due to the fires. There has been a significant loss of commercial centers that employ renters, small businesses owned by renters, and transportation impacts that have led to reduced income now and in some cases for the foreseeable future. 
  • Evictions for additional occupants and pets should be banned while people remain displaced. Many renters have generously opened their homes to evacuating family and friends, inadvertently putting them all at risk of eviction for violating lease-based occupancy limits or no pet policies. Cities and the Board of Supervisors should also consider making these protections permanent. 
  • Ban evictions for lack of renters’ insurance. Landlords should not be allowed to shift liability to tenants by requiring tenants to obtain renter’s insurance as a condition of the lease. Failure to obtain renter’s insurance can also serve as a pretext for landlords to evict tenants, which courts have said is illegal. Cities should follow the lead of California courts and prohibit these evictions.
• Ban algorithmic rental price fixing and tenant screening. Just a week after these deadly fires started, we have already seen landlords raise rents on vacant units, in some cases blaming algorithms or rental listing platforms for the gouging. Like in San Francisco, the use of algorithmic software to set rental prices should be outlawed. In addition, tools that use algorithms or AI to screen prospective tenants should be banned, so that tenants are evaluated holistically and without discriminatory barriers when applying for a place to live.
• Enforce existing protections against evictions to bring in higher-paying tenants. Many renters are going to find themselves pressured to leave or evicted to accommodate new, higher-paying tenants. Cities and the County should specifically enforce Penal Code § 396(f) and Civil Code § 1954.53(a)(1) to protect against this abuse. 
• Enforce anti-price gouging laws generally. The District Attorney and City Attorneys should join with the Attorney General in enforcing the state’s anti-price gouging statute, Penal Code § 396, which prohibits price gouging on rental housing in addition to temporary shelter and other essential goods. 

Implement Other Tenant Supports

• Stand up immediate cash assistance and/or rent relief programs for renters impacted. 
• Enhance rent registries so they are usable and other protections are enforceable. 
• Create dedicated hotlines and support for tenants seeking information and access to assistance programs during the emergency, and after, to aid in recovery. 

These are common-sense protections after any large disaster or emergency. The reality of climate change is that events like this month’s fires are only going to increase in frequency, and our region is at high risk for earthquakes. Therefore, we also demand that these emergency protections also be codified in a permanent emergency protection ordinance that automatically applies upon declaration of a state of emergency. This type of law is not unprecedented. Sonoma County’s Residential Tenancy Protections Ordinance contains a permanent section with protections during declared states of emergency. Additionally, last week we saw the application of Insurance Code § 675.1(b), which automatically creates a 1 year moratorium on canceling or non-renewing insurance within a fire perimeter after a state of emergency is declared. LA City Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Heather Hutt also recently introduced a motion calling for additional tenant protections after disasters.

As the climate crisis hastens more public emergencies, Los Angeles needs to be prepared to protect the housing stability of tenants. We urge our governments to take action now to prevent more loss and devastation.