The city of Los Angeles Wednesday sued a temporary rental housing provider and other unnamed defendants for allegedly violating anti-gouging and unfair competition laws after the January 2025 wildfires.
The Los Angeles Superior Court complaint alleges that 911 Housing Solutions illegally offered, advertised and charged gouged rates for rental housing following the fires, which caused unprecedented property damage in the Los Angeles area.
The city seeks a court order stopping the alleged practices, restitution for individuals or entities who allegedly were charged illegally high rents, and to impose statutory penalties to punish defendants for their alleged misconduct. The suit’s other goal is to deter others from engaging in similar allegedly unlawful, unfair and fraudulent price-gouging practices, according to the City Attorney’s Office.
A 911 Housing Solutions representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
“It’s unconscionable that, despite multiple opportunities to comply with the law, defendants allegedly continued to take advantage of individuals who have already lost so much,” City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto said. “This lawsuit sends a clear message that my office will continue to enforce our price gouging laws, hold accountable those who violate the law and protect Angelenos from predatory behavior.”
The wildfires created a need for local, short-term rental housing for individuals who lost or were forced to vacate their homes, and 911 Housing provides interim rental housing to individuals who rely on their homeowners’ insurance to cover these costs.
In January 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a declaration of emergency, which made it illegal to increase the price of rental offerings by more than 10% in Los Angeles County. Newsom and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have repeatedly extended the emergency declaration, thereby continuing the price gouging prohibitions under state and local law.
Despite the prohibitions, 911 Housing allegedly illegally offered, advertised and charged gouged rates for many rental housing properties, including a home in Glendale they sublet to the insured for 126% over the pre-emergency rental rate, the City Attorney’s Office alleges.
According to the City Attorney’s Office, the firm’s alleged price-gouging harms insurance companies and the insured by contributing to higher insurance costs and causing homeowners to more rapidly deplete their insurance benefits, and also harms consumers by disrupting and distorting the market for temporary rental housing.