Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at expediting the construction of temporary housing for the tens of thousands of Los Angeles County residents who have been displaced by the wildfires in Southern California.
The order, which also places strict limits on price gouging on rentals and hotels, is part of an effort by state and local officials to combat a frenzied run on real estate as thousands of displaced residents scramble to find rooms, apartments and homes.
“Today, we are expediting the creation of new temporary housing by removing roadblocks and strengthening protections against exploitation,” Governor Newsom said in a statement.
The initiative will ease restrictions on mobile homes and temporary housing, in part by allowing emergency agencies to more easily build those structures on burned lots, the governor’s office said.
The order will also extend prohibitions on price gouging by property sellers, landlords and hotel operators, as the demand for temporary housing has set off bidding wars and eye-watering price increases for real estate. An earlier executive order from Governor Newsom had restricted unsolicited offers, property speculation and evictions in areas burned by the wildfires. It also capped rental increases to 10 percent for as long as the crisis persists.
Eight shelters have been opened in Los Angeles by the Red Cross and other disaster relief agencies. Together, they can house around 800 people.
As the Palisades and Eaton fires, the two largest in the area, have destroyed or damaged a total of more than 10,000 structures, it has laid bare the inequalities in what was already one of America’s least affordable housing markets.
“Folks across the region are being preyed upon by greedy businesses and landlords, scam artists, and predatory buyers looking to make a quick buck off their pain,” Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, said in a statement. “My office is here to say this is not only wrong, it is illegal.”
Los Angeles-area real estate agents have described chaotic scrambles to buy and sell homes, and whisper networks through which unlisted properties quickly sell for millions of dollars.
In the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where the average annual household income of $375,000 is more than three times the city average, residents displaced by the Palisades fire are fighting to buy their neighbors’ second and third homes.
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