Fire Recovery Housing Protections Quietly Extended Through Summer—What Pasadena Residents Should Know

As spring housing activity picks up and wildfire recovery continues in greater Los Angeles, a set of state protections that may help displaced residents and renters remains quietly in place—and could significantly affect Pasadena tenants and landlords through at least July.

The City of Pasadena on Wednesday circulated a reminder about statewide housing protections still in effect for renters and fire-displaced residents, urging community awareness amid ongoing recovery efforts across Southern California.

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the series of executive order extensions and modifications designed to safeguard renters, support displaced residents, and promote robust housing development amid ongoing emergency conditions on March 7.

These actions aim to address housing affordability, prevent exploitative practices, and foster community recovery in Los Angeles County and affected regions.

Key Extensions and Modifications Include:

• Extended Price Gouging Protections: The provisions that prevent price gouging on hotel/motel rates, rental housing, and evictions (when done to re-let at higher rates) in Los Angeles County have been extended until July 1, 2025. Importantly, any time limitations previously attached to these protections are suspended to ensure continuous consumer safeguards during the emergency.
• Increased Rental Pricing Flexibility: For certain housing not offered for rent in the year prior to the emergency:

Large Single-Family Homes: Homes with four or more bedrooms in specified ZIP codes, where the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent for a four-bedroom unit is at least $5,500, will benefit from a temporary suspension of rental price restrictions until July 1, 2025.

New Housing: Residential units that have received their first certificate of occupancy on or after January 1, 2025, are also exempted from these price limitations.

These measures enable pricing flexibility to boost housing supply and address higher financing costs.

• Broadened Price Gouging Protections for All Lease Terms: The rule that removes the lease length limitation on price gouging protections, originally put in place by Executive Order N-17-25, has now been extended until July 1, 2025. This means that all rental housing, regardless of the lease duration, is protected from price gouging.
• Extended Transient Occupancy Status: Individuals displaced from their primary residence in Los Angeles County and residing in hotels, motels, residence clubs, or similar lodging facilities will retain their transient occupancy status for the entire duration of their stay until July 1, 2025, regardless of the standard 30-day limitation.

This provision permits continued collection of Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) for these occupancies through July 1, 2025, and ensures that displaced individuals continue to qualify as transient occupants rather than tenants, under existing laws. This allows individuals who are displaced by the fires to remain in one location and not have to make frequent moves to avoid the 30-day mark.

Please Note:  The Governor’s Order supersedes the Pasadena Rental Housing Board’s recent extension of the same protection relative to transient occupancy status on March 6, 2025.

• Priority Access to Affordable Rental Housing: Households that have lost their primary residences due to the emergency will receive priority on waiting lists for affordable rental housing administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development. These priority placements will remain in effect until March 6, 2026.

To view the complete Executive Order, please visit Gov.Ca.gov, or see Executive Order N-23-25.