Over the past two weeks we have seen beautiful examples of neighbors and local organizations acting and organizing to assist and support the victims of the Eaton Fire. Sadly, we have also seen the exact opposite.
Over 1,300 cases of price gouging have been documented in Los Angeles County, including nearly 50 cases in Pasadena. Tenants who were forced to flee their homes due to the encroaching flames, as well as toxic smoke and ash, have not been able to return home because their landlords refuse to restore their units to habitable conditions. Others have been threatened with eviction simply for asking that their apartment be safely and professionally cleaned.
On top of all of that, the Pasadena Housing Providers (PHP) apparently saw this unprecedented climate catastrophe as a chance to circumvent tenant protections which Pasadena voters put in place in November 2022. In their press release dated January 11, they asked to be released from Measure H rules and regulations when they rent to fire victims. The last thing we need is a separate, unequal group of Black, Brown, working class climate refugees without the fundamental tenant protections enjoyed by the rest of the city.
While there will always be a minority in any community looking to profit off the suffering of others, we can do better! We must be vigilant as we navigate the pivotal years ahead.
The main thing that would help the whole community of Altadena and Pasadena right now, which the City Council could address quickly, is a temporary freeze on evictions and rent increases. We can prevent the compounding trauma of displacement that, for example, took place after the horrific 2023 fire in Lahaina. The fire itself was only the beginning. The next wave of displacement came when tenants were evicted to make way for higher paying tenants. (“Maui Residents Have Been Forced From Their Homes to Make Room for Wildfire Survivors. Property Owners Are Profiting,” ProPublica, August 14, 2024).
And don’t forget, tenants in Pasadena and Altadena have just cause eviction protections. That means the landlord needs a valid reason to terminate a tenancy. The regulations differ somewhat between the two communities, but please, if you’re a tenant, don’t surrender your tenancy before investigating what your rights are. Ash contamination or even partial damage due to the fire or fallen trees does not mean you have to move out permanently.
Landlords also have a responsibility under the California Civil Code and the Health and Safety Code to maintain their units in a habitable condition. That includes remediating toxic contamination from the fire and repairing all structural damage from fire and fallen trees. Tenants without habitable living conditions may not be required to pay rent. Tenants who are temporarily displaced due to repairs that cannot safely take place while they’re living in the unit have the right to return to the unit at the same rent they had before the displacement.
Once again we find ourselves having to fight for survival with one hand and fend off the predatory attacks of capital interests with the other, but we have practice at this. We can do it if we stick together and demand what we need from our elected officials at the City, County, and State levels. We cannot surrender what we’ve already won for the health of our community, both in Pasadena and Los Angeles County, by rolling back tenant protections and climate protections in the middle of a historic catastrophe–one that disproportionately affects Black families who have lived in the same homes for generations.
No one I know in City leadership wants to create a separate class of climate refugees in Altadena and Pasadena who lack the protections that other tenants have. It’s not the Pasadena Way.
If you have any questions about what Pasadena laws require of tenants and landlords, please reach out to the Rent Stabilization Department. If you live in unincorporated LA County (such as Altadena and parts of East Pasadena), please reach out to the Department of Business and Consumer Affairs.
Ryan Bell is the Southern California representative for Tenants Together and the chair of the Pasadena Rental Housing Board (PRHB). The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the PRHB.