goldbet Los Angeles fire evacuees face price gouging
A cadaver dog, from the Los Angeles County Sheriff, sniffs through the rubble of beachfront properties destroyed by the Palisades Fire along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California, on January 12, 2025. US officials warned “dangerous and strong” winds were set to push deadly wildfires further through Los Angeles residential areas January 12 as firefighters struggled to make progress against the flames. At least 24 people have been confirmed dead from blazes that have ripped through the city, reducing whole neighborhoods to ashes and leaving thousands without homes. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP)
Santa Monica, United States — Days after an inferno razed Pacific Palisades, Maya Lieberman is desperate to find somewhere to live. But unscrupulous landlords who are jacking up prices are making it hard.
“The price gouging is going haywire, it’s obscene,” the 50-year-old stylist told AFP.
Article continues after this advertisement“I can’t find anywhere for us to go.”
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Huge fires that have torn through Los Angeles since Tuesday have leveled whole neighborhoods, turning swaths of the city to ash.
Article continues after this advertisementMore than 150,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes as authorities try to keep down a death toll that has already reached 16.
Article continues after this advertisementOne blaze devastated Pacific Palisades, an upmarket enclave that was home to celebrities like Billy Crystal and Kate Beckinsale, which — until this week — was some of the most desirable real estate in the United States.
Article continues after this advertisementWith the area now under a compulsory evacuation order, even those whose homes survived the inferno need to go elsewhere for the foreseeable future.
The higher-than-average incomes of people forced to leave homes there appear to have tempted opportunists, who see a chance to make money from others’ misery.
Article continues after this advertisement“We put in an application at a house… that was listed at $17,000 a month, and they told us if we didn’t pay $30,000, we weren’t going to get it,” Lieberman said.
“They told me they have people ready to offer more and pay cash. It’s absolutely insane.”
This was the remark of Kristalina Georgieva, who has just started her second five-year term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on Thursday, before the IMF and the World Bank’s annual gathering of financial leaders in Washington next week.
IllegalSimilar stories of apparent price gouging abound.
“I have friends who booked a hotel outside Los Angeles, and when they arrived there, they were asked for a higher price,” said TV producer Alex Smith, who has been forced to leave his home.
The sharp practice has drawn the ire of California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who warned Saturday there are laws against it.
“Price gouging is illegal. We will not stand for it. We will hold you accountable. We will prosecute,” he told reporters, adding that those found guilty could land themselves a year in jail.
Once a state of emergency is declared — as it has been for the out-of-control fires — vendors cannot increase their prices by more than 10 percent.
That applies to small businesses as well as to mega-companies whose automated tools use supply and demand to set the cost of everything from hotel stays to concert tickets.
big win 777“If those algorithms lead to prices higher after the declaration of emergency than before, by more than 10 percent, you’re violating the law,” Bonta said.
“You need to figure out how to adjust your prices consistent with the law. And if that means departing from your algorithm, depart from your algorithm.”
The protections had been due to expire after 30 to 180 days — but on Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order extending them until Jaunary 7, 2026.
But for Brian, a retiree who has been sleeping in his car since the evacuation order was raised, the rules protecting against price gouging are almost beside the point.
The 69-year-old, who did not want to give his full name, had been living in a rent-controlled studio apartment in Pacific Palisades for two decades.
That has now gone, and along with it the guarantee that his rent cannot rise.
His pension, he fears, will not stretch far in a city where rents have doubled in the last 10 years — a problem likely to be exacerbated by the sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live.
“I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” he said.
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“That doesn’t bode well.”goldbet
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