The death toll from the California fires rose to 24 this Monday, the 13th. With more than 100,000 people without homes, residents of Los Angeles are beginning to feel the impact on their pockets. The city’s hotels, which would be full during the film awards season, became a refuge for the homeless. And rents, according to real estate agents, have soared.
Laura Kate Jones, a real estate agent, has been trying to find a home for a client who lost everything in Palisades. The woman and her two children were left with just the clothes on their backs. On Friday, she noticed that rents for at least three properties increased by 15% to 20% overnight.
Agents and owners, according to her, know that many residents are willing to pay anything to have a roof over their heads. “People are so desperate that they are throwing money out the window,” Laura said. “And a lot of people are taking advantage of it. It’s horrible.”
A review of listings on brokerage Zillow shows that rents for several properties in West Los Angeles have increased since they started them. The increase is around 15% for a five-bedroom house, but can reach an impressive 64% when renting a studio in Venice.
Samira Tapia, a broker in Los Angeles, also works with families affected by the fires. Among his clients is a couple with a one-year-old baby who visited a home in North Hollywood on Wednesday. The rent, which was US$4,900, rose to US$5,700.
Hotels
Unable to find a house, many look for hotels. Shutters on the Beach, a luxury resort in Santa Monica, has become a refuge for homeless families. Yesterday, in the middle of a table in the lobby, there was a plastic aquarium with a goldfish. “It’s my daughter’s,” Kevin Fossee said. He and his wife, Olivia Barth, went to the hotel last week after the Palisades fire spread to Malibu.
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Similar scenes occur at other hotels. IHG, which includes the Intercontinental, Regent and Holiday Inn chains, said 19 of its hotels in Los Angeles and Pasadena were accommodating homeless people.
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At the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, there have been no parking spaces since last week, and guests are forced to leave their cars in a lot a kilometer away and take a bus back. “You know someone is homeless if they’re wearing a sweatshirt or if they’re carrying a dog,” said photographer Sasha Young.
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Tourists
Hotels are also helping tourists return home without charging a cancellation fee. According to a Shutters spokeswoman, there were few left in the hotel. The heated pool overlooking the sea is deserted due to poor air quality.
As firefighters try to control the flames, federal and state agencies have begun investigating the causes of the fires. Among the initial hypotheses are the use of fireworks on New Year’s Eve, the fall of electrical wires or even criminal action.
Conclusions, however, will take time, according to researchers. “It’s like throwing a crime scene into an oven,” said Michael Wara, former California wildfire commissioner, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
