For more than four decades, Public Counsel has stood alongside communities facing crisis, helping build a healthier, more resilient, and more equitable Los Angeles. As wildfires grow more frequent and destructive, we have deepened our commitment to ensuring that low-income residents, workers, tenants, and small businesses can recover with dignity, stability, and the legal support they deserve.
Our disaster recovery work centers on advancing policies that protect community members during the most vulnerable moments. At the state level, we sponsored AB 380, advocating for stronger protections against disaster-related price gouging, and provided key legal and technical support for SB 610, now law, which expands post-disaster rights for tenants and mobile-home park residents.
Across Los Angeles County, our advocacy helped secure major safety-net programs for wildfire survivors. We supported the creation of the LA County Fire Recovery Fund, fought for eviction protections for impacted tenants, strengthened price-gouging penalties, and backed an Emergency Rent Relief Program to prevent displacement during and after major disasters. Each effort required coordinated coalition work—drafting memos, producing toolkits, delivering public comment, meeting with Board offices, and mobilizing community voices.
At the city level, we advanced proposals to pause rent increases and prevent evictions for fire-impacted tenants in Los Angeles. While the motion was not enacted, our advocacy laid essential groundwork for future protections.
Through legal assistance, community education, and policy leadership, Public Counsel remains steadfast in helping communities withstand and recover from wildfires. Our commitment is simple: no one should have to face a disaster alone.
