The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will vote on a motion today to increase the penalty for price gouging to a maximum of $50,000 per violation.
In last week’s meeting, the board had directed the Office of County Counsel to draft the motion.
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who introduced the motion, had said the recent L.A. County wildfires burned more than 16,000 structures, many residential, and displaced tens of thousands of people.
“Price gouging laws have been in effect limiting the amount of money that can be charged for goods and services including rent,” Horvath said, “Yet, there are bad actors who are taking advantage of this crisis.”
She cited a study by Rent Brigade that found thousands of potential violations, including in areas not affected by fires, in just the first 11 days since the blazes broke out Jan. 7.
Board Chair Kathryn Barger, who co-authored to the motion, said she had witnessed a disturbing trend of price gouging in the area preying on the most vulnerable communities. Barger called the increased penalty a “bold action.”
Horvath stressed the measure would protect people from falling into homelessness.
The County Counsel was also authorized to consider initiating or joining existing litigation regarding price gouging and price fixing algorithm software used by housing websites.
At the meeting, Supervisor Holly Mitchell said the rent-fixing algorithms were predatory and compared it to red-lining practices that kept minorities from buying homes for decades.
“What really frankly pisses me off is when we look at the predatory way in which the electronic algorithms are used … rent hikes outside of legal limits were steeper on the lower end of L.A.’s housing market,” Mitchell said.
“So it’s almost red-lining that the algorithmic technology is preying on those who can least afford the rent hike and probably preying on geographic areas where affordable housing is most likely to be.”
The county CEO was asked to draft a board letter requesting online housing applications, including Redfin, Zillow, Apartments.com, AirBnB, and VRBO, post a banner on their website about the county’s state of emergency and price-gouging laws.
If passed, the motion will remain in effect for the duration of the local emergency.