Housing Is A Human Right Implores California Apartment Association to Call for Rent Freezes

On the heels of widespread reports of rent gouging in Southern California following its recent apocalyptic wildfires, Housing Is A Human Right, the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, implores the California Apartment Association, the powerful lobbying group for corporate landlords, to urge its members to voluntarily enact rent freezes during the calamity.

“Many people in Los Angeles County have lost everything—their homes, belongings, and loved ones due to this disastrous fire,” said Susie Shannon, Policy Director for Housing Is A Human Right.  “Yet, while huge swaths of L.A. County continue to burn, landlords, represented by the California Apartment Association, have wasted no time in rent gouging and taking advantage of those displaced by the fires. We ask CAA to urge their members to voluntarily freeze rents and allow victims of the fire to find stable housing.”

A week after the fires—and as the region remains on heightened alert due to the continuing threat of new and/or growing wildfires—widespread news reports of California landlords taking advantage of residents displaced due to the fire disaster are appearing, including in the Los Angeles TimesNewsweek, the news website LAist, and the BBC.

The Los Angeles Times wrote about steep rent increases across the region despite the fact that “State price gouging rules took effect Jan. 7 once Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency and are supposed to rein in rental costs.”

The BBC noted: “…California Attorney General Rob Bonta also said he has seen landlords raising prices illegally. ‘You cannot do it. It is a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and fines,’ he said. ‘This is California law [and] it’s in place to protect those suffering from a tragedy’.”

“Last year, the California Apartment Association spent over $170 million to defeat rent control in the state,” added Shannon. “If the organization cared about tenants, they would immediately call for an emergency wildfire rent freeze.”

 

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4 comments

    1. Preventing “price gouging” in regard to the fires in Los Angeles is also a “rejection of economics”.

      Rent control, Affordable housing, AND building more market-rate housing are ALL a manipulation of the market – with the supposed goal of allowing people without enough money to live in an area they can’t actually afford.

      The unique aspect of rent control is that it largely prevents those already living in an area from being priced-out. All of the other market manipulations are an attempt to house people who don’t already in that area.

    2. Actually, I withdraw the comment. I commented off the headline and didn’t realize this was about the fires. Voluntarily not screwing people in a disaster is a good thing. Not for price controls, but this is just decency.

      1. For what’s it worth, I figured you were responding to the “rent control” aspect of the article.

        But truth be told, I’m not seeing a fundamental difference between “normal” rent gouging, vs. “emergency” rent gouging, other than timeframe. And some claim that we’re already in a “housing crisis”.

        Granted, it’s pretty tough to have to “immediately” leave an area after a fire (compared to those slowly priced-out), but price gouging has no impact on “supply” – other than to possibly increase supply if price gouging was “allowed”.

        I don’t have access to the LA Times, but there’s apparently an article in there today which claims that “prevention of price gouging” is keeping some homes off the market. The same type of argument used against rent control.

        https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2025-01-23/price-gouging-rules-high-end-homes-la-rental-market#:~:text=The%20price%20limit%20is%20keeping,in%20their%20search%20for%20housing.

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