Reports of Price-Gouging as Porter Ranch Families Look for Temporary Homes

Thousands of families fleeing the ongoing gas leak near Porter Ranch for temporary homes have new problems: a low housing supply and sky-high rents.

Some landlords in nearby Woodland Hills and Northridge have jacked up rents since the gas leak was discovered in late October in Aliso Canyon. One four-bedroom home in Northridge is advertised on Craigslist for $8,500 as a "Huge Estate House Available, Perfect for Families Affected by Gas Leak."

Allen Brodetsky, president of Boutique Realty in Tarzana, said, "Where rental prices would normally go between $3,000 and $4,000, now landlords are asking $7,000, $8,000, $9,000 -- double, triple the rent of what it should be."

Brodetsky said that the rental market around Porter Ranch has gotten so hot that some home sellers, including a neighbor of his, have taken their houses off the market and put them on the short-term rental market.

There are rules against overcharging for housing and other goods and services in a disaster area. For example, state law bars landlords from hiking rents by more than 10 percent after a declaration of emergency, which Gov. Brown made on Wednesday.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors also declared a state of emergency in December, under which similar restrictions on rent increases also take effect.

Read the full story via KPCC