Illegal price-gouging is rampant after disasters. Can it be stopped?

Illegal Price-Gouging Runs Rampant After Disasters. The LA Fires Proved It

Rents jumped 20 percent after this year’s Los Angeles wildfires, forcing displaced residents to scramble for housing in an already-tough market.

Illegal price-gouging is rampant after disasters. Can it be stopped?

Last January, a series of massive wildfires broke out across the Los Angeles area, fueled by high winds and dry temperatures. The fires raged for weeks, incinerating entire neighborhoods in the wealthy Pacific Palisades and in middle-class Altadena. They killed at least 30 people and destroyed at least 10,000 homes. As the embers cooled, thousands of displaced Angelenos scrambled to find new housing in a rental market that was already among the …