The City Council of the City of West Hollywood, at its Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, unanimously approved an emergency Urgency Ordinance to assist in housing people displaced by the region’s recent devastating fires. The Urgency Ordinance is part of the City of West Hollywood’s proactive approach to addressing the fires and responding to their related impacts.

The Urgency Ordinance provides emergency exceptions to certain rental restrictions for people who can demonstrate that they have been displaced by the fires. There are a few immediate and urgent changes to the City’s regulations that will help ensure that displaced people can find housing in West Hollywood.

This includes:

• Suspension of the City’s one-year minimum lease requirement for dwelling units to evacuees of the 2025 fires; all leases must be for longer than 30 days but may be shorter than one year and may be subject to the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO);

• Authorization for hotels and other lodging houses to house evacuees of the 2025 fires for more than 30 days without the creation of a tenancy or other obligations under the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance; and

• Waiving City business license fees for home-share license applications and directing staff to expedite processing those home-sharing license applications.

Additionally, the Urgency Ordinance authorizes the City of West Hollywood’s City Manager to direct resources toward emergency response and the City Attorney shall be authorized to report allegations of price gouging to appropriate authorities.

Governor Gavin Newsom has issued an Executive Order to further a State of Emergency declaration to expedite recovery efforts following the fires. This Order extends price-gouging protections for essential building materials, housing and storage services, and repair, construction, and emergency clean-up services in Los Angeles County.

The City of West Hollywood has a decades-long history of working to ensure the rights of renters with strong policies and protections and any instances of price gouging is unacceptable. Most apartments and rental units in the City of West Hollywood fall under the City’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO), which currently limits any rent increases for existing tenancies to a maximum of 3%. To find out if your property is subject to the RSO or if you have received a rent increase in excess of 3%, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Rent Stabilization Division by calling (323) 848-6450 or by emailing rsd@weho.org.

There is a declared state of emergency for Los Angeles County due to the fires and California State Code Section 396 prohibits price gouging (defined as increasing the price of a good or service by more than 10%, including rent) during a state of emergency. If you have been the victim of price gouging, reach out to the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs at (800) 593-8222 or file an online complaint. Report any incidents of price gouging to the California Attorney General at oag.ca.gov/report. For more information from LA County regarding price gouging, visit dcba.lacounty.gov/portfolio/price-gouging.   The City of West Hollywood’s Fire Updates website area features fire-related community information at go.weho.org/fireupdates. The City’s WeHo Responds program is encouraging donations to agencies and organizations at www.weho.org/wehoresponds. For Los Angeles County information, visit www.lacounty.gov/emergency and recovery.lacounty.gov. Sign-up for LA County Alert LA Updates at https://ready.lacounty.gov/emergency-notifications and for Nixle public safety alerts by texting a ZIP code to 888777.

The City of West Hollywood is urging people who may need mental health support during this difficult time to reach out to Maple Counseling. The City has a long-standing relationship with Maple Counseling and clinical staff is available to provide free and low-cost counseling sessions to West Hollywood community members. For additional information, call Maple Counseling at (310) 271-9999. Additionally, the LA County Department of Mental Health (DMH) is providing 24/7 support and resources through its help line at (800) 854-7771 or via the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Resources on the LA County website include a variety of wildfire disaster mental health resources and downloadable tip sheets.

For more information about the Urgency Ordinance suspension of the one-year minimum lease requirement for dwelling units to evacuees of the 2025 fires, please contact Cameron Kesinger, City of West Hollywood Rent Stabilization Manager, at (323) 848-5034 or at ckesinger@weho.org.

For more information about the Urgency Ordinance authorization for hotels and other lodging houses to house evacuees of the 2025 fires for more than 30 days, please contact Paolo Kespradit, City of West Hollywood Business Development Manager, at (323) 848-6556 or at pkespradit@weho.org.

For more information about the Urgency Ordinance waiver of business license fees for home-share license applications, please contact Vyto Adomaitis, City of West Hollywood Neighborhood and Business Safety Manager, at (323) 848-6531 or at vadomaitis@weho.org.

For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing dial 711 or 1-800-735-2929 (TTY) or 1-800-735-2922 (voice) for California Relay Service (CRS) assistance.

For up-to-date information about City of West Hollywood news and events, follow @wehocity on social media, sign-up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar. Receive text updates by texting “WeHo” to (323) 848-5000. West Hollywood City Hall is open for walk-in services at public counters or by appointment by visiting www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services are accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via website at www.weho.org.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org.