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Scum landlords in LA are price-gouging rentals – but people are putting them ‘on a list’…

In the aftermath of the LA wildfires, residents have created a spreadsheet of landlords who they’ve caught price-gouging LA rentals in an attempt to rip off already suffering people:

LA rentals: a disaster capitalist’s goldmine

Unfortunately, price increases after climate crisis-fuelled disasters, like wildfires or earthquakes, is pretty common. However, California Penal Code section 396 prohibits:

excessive and unjustified increases in the prices of essential consumer goods and services, construction services, hotel lodging, and residential rental properties during and shortly after a declared state of emergency or local emergency.

This means it is illegal for landlords or businesses to increase the price of any of the previously mentioned services by more than 10%. Unless they can prove that the increase in price was directly related to additional costs by circumstances brought on by the state of emergency. They also have to prove that the price is not greater than 10% of their costs, plus their usual markup:

Whilst city officials are asking residents to report LA rentals price gouging to the California Attorney General, the people have taken it into their own hands:

The project, run by volunteers who ‘love Los Angeles and its people’ currently has nearly 1,000 listings. Some of the prices have increased by over 150%. One property in Venice has increased from $3,000 per month, to $31,888 – that’s a 963% increase:

Another property in Manhattan beach was raised from $3,450 to $33,000 – that’s another insane increase, at 844%:

Housing crisis

Even before the recent wildfires, Los Angeles was already experiencing a housing crisis. Since 1960, LA’s population has nearly doubled. Now, with over 12 million inhabitants, housing availability is seriously behind. Data suggests a shortage of around 400,000 homes.

The median price of a two-bed apartment in California is three times the median monthly salary. This is a symptom of a much bigger problem though, as a recent Harvard study found at least half of Americans cannot afford their rent. Currently, 8.1 million Californians spend an unaffordable share of their income on housing.

Homelessness is at a record high in California, as with in other parts of the world. The latest federal estimate is that 181,000 people are currently experiencing homelessness in the state.

Research from the University of California showed that the primary cause of the homelessness crisis was the high cost of housing.

Mobilisation

It seems that in the wake of the devastating fires, people on social media are mobilising against LA rentals price gouging:

In a week where wildfires have displaced thousands of people, it has become clearer than ever the scale of the housing crisis facing LA.

Just as evident is that landlords are the literal scum of the earth. Meanwhile, LA rentals are now the disaster capitalists’ gold mine. So as homes, public spaces, and livelihoods go up in smoke, these vultures only care about the profits they can squeeze out of the displaced community.

However, as LA burns, people aren’t about to let them get away with it.  Not when that whole community’s world is literally on fire.

Feature image via 

By HG

This post was originally published on Canary.