Even before the wildfires tore through the hills of Los Angeles, the region faced a serious housing shortage. Now that residents of the Palisades and Altadena, among others, have to find shelter for the short- and mid-term, that problem has only grown worse. With available housing at a premium, premium housing might have been an option — if Gavin Newsom hadn’t incompetently intervened in the guise of white-knighting.
Faced with thousands of displaced families hiking demand in an already depleted inventory, Newsom imposed a price cap on any new rental listings of $10,000 a month. And that price cap has had the practical effect of keeping inventory off the market, as the LA Times reports this morning while a new fire breaks out in Bel-Air:
In Los Angeles’ high-end rental market, it’s long been common to find homes advertised for $10,000 a month or…
