Rental housing providers in Los Angeles County will remain subject to limits on rent increases and restrictions on certain evictions after the county’s Board of Supervisors voted to extend wildfire-related price-gouging protections through April 28.

The extension, brought by Third District Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, continues rules under California’s anti-price gouging law and the county’s local ordinance that generally cap rent increases at no more than 10% above pre-emergency levels. The rules also prohibit landlords from evicting a residential tenant and re-renting the unit at a higher price during the protected period.

The board retained a previously authorized exception for units that were not rented and not offered for rent within one year before the emergency declaration. Those units may be rented at up to 200% of the fair market rent established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Ahead of the vote, the California Apartment Association urged the board to end the declaration entirely. In a March 12 letter, CAA argued that the circumstances that originally justified the extensions no longer exist, citing county vacancy rates above 5% and a softening rental market.

“This emergency declaration was intended to be temporary,” CAA wrote. “Instead, it has become routine for emergency housing regulations to become indefinite. The continuation lacks clear reasoning, guardrails, or objective benchmarks for termination.”

CAA also warned that the ongoing protections have wide-ranging implications beyond the fire impact zone, deterring housing availability and discouraging the reintroduction of homes being withheld from the market. The letter was signed by Fred Sutton of CAA.

One notable change in this extension: protections for hotels and motels were removed. The motion noted that only 1% of fire survivors surveyed indicated they were living in temporary motels, and that the hotel industry had raised concerns about being unable to adjust rates seasonally or during major events.

The motion also cited a November–December 2025 survey of 2,443 adults in fire-impacted communities showing that 74% of those from Pacific Palisades and 65% of those from Altadena remain in temporary housing. It further said more survivors are running out of financial displacement coverage from their insurance companies.

During the hearing, county officials said 86% of price-gouging complaints involved housing and that most of those complaints centered on single-family home rentals. Officials also said only about 14% of destroyed properties had received rebuilding permits and argued that many households still need temporary housing.

That tension surfaced during the board’s discussion. Supervisor Kathryn Barger questioned whether a countywide extension remained justified given reports that median rents were only 2.1% above November 2024 levels and rental inventory was up 6.3% year over year. County staff responded that, while rents may have flattened countywide, the strongest pressure points remained near the fire zones and in areas where displaced residents were trying to stay close to schools, jobs and their damaged properties.

The board also discussed the lack of a clear off-ramp. Supervisor Janice Hahn asked what benchmarks the county should use to determine when the emergency price-gouging protections should end. County staff said future milestones could include rebuilding progress and lower displacement levels, but no formal phase-out criteria were adopted as part of the March 17 action.

The protections, which originated with the state of emergency declared Jan. 7, 2025, following the Palisades and Eaton fires, have been extended repeatedly — first through state executive orders and then by the Board of Supervisors. The March 17 vote is the latest in a series of extensions.