Tuesday, May 19, 2026

LA County Declines to Extend Price Gouging Protections on Rental Housing

CITY NEWS SERVICE

A divided Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday refused to again extend price-gouging protections on local rental housing that were implemented following the Jan. 7, 2025, wildfires.

In January 2025, a state of emergency was declared in the county following the windstorm and deadly wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, activating price gouging protections that barred price hikes of 10% or more on critical goods and services, including housing.

The wildfires destroyed thousands of structures and displaced numerous residents and businesses.

Under the declaration, the price-gouging protections were put in place through July 1, 2025, but state law allowed the county to approve 30-day extensions — which the Board of Supervisors has OK’d each month since last summer.

Another proposed 30-day extension was the board’s agenda Tuesday, since the protections are set to expire May 28.

But the continued extensions have drawn increased opposition from landlords and other business groups, which argued the restrictions have become financially burdensome to owners of rental properties amid rising costs.

Jeremy Harris, president/CEO of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a letter to Supervisor Janice Hahn that while the protections initially `served an important purpose to assist people impacted by the fires, but the “emergency market restrictions were never intended to function as economic controls in perpetuity.”

“Now almost a year and a half since the emergency declaration, Los Angeles County must begin transitioning from emergency response towards long- term recovery and housing stabilization policies grounded in market realities, operational sustainability and increased housing availability,” Harris wrote.

A representative of the California Apartment Association spoke to the board Tuesday, saying the circumstances that justified the protections and the repeated extensions “no longer exist.”

Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who proposed the additional 30-day extension, urged the board to approve it, saying the county Department of Consumer and Business Affairs was scheduled to deliver a report next week “with metrics and indicators of what an off-ramp would look like to discontinue the protections.” She called for the board to keep the protections in place until it could review that report.

But Horvath only got support from Supervisor Hilda Solis, with Supervisors Kathryn Barger, Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell abstaining from the vote, effectively defeating the proposed extension.