In January 2025, the Eaton and Palisades fires displaced tens of thousands of people in Southern California. For n+1, tenant organizer Chelsea Kirk writes about the “rapid-fire monetization of disaster” in the Los Angeles rental market—and how homeowners and real estate agents capitalized on the chaos. Kirk recounts how she began collecting cases of price gouging on Zillow into a spreadsheet, and how her project evolved into a larger grassroots community effort to document and expose landlord greed.
There wasn’t one type of person contributing. Some were comrades in the tenant movement. Some were realtors, attempting to distance themselves from their industry’s worst (natural?) impulses. Some were homeowners—millionaires even—suddenly confronted with the reality of housing as something that could be taken away. Most appeared to be ordinary Angelenos, furious at what they saw, people I’d never met.
The vibe was scrappy and skill-diverse. Some folks had years of experience in data systems; others were there to observe, learn, or relay information to future collaborators. By the end of the call, we had the beginnings of a plan—and two Signal groups: a developer team focused on building the tool to extract rent-gouging listings from Zillow, and a research team ready to analyze the data once it came in.
More picks about Los Angeles
Altadena: Four Stories
For three weeks in January, the Eaton Fire raced through the small community of Altadena, California, destroying more than 9,000 buildings and killing seventeen people. Afterward, we invited four writers, all longtime local residents, to share memories, and photographs, of what burned, and what didn’t.
Grave Mistakes: The History and Future of Chile’s ‘Disappeared’
“A brutal regime hid hundreds of people’s remains. Can new forensic science help find them—and regain public trust?”
The Private Firefighters On Call for the Californians Who Can Afford Them
“I had people calling me, ‘If I write you a check right now for a million dollars, will you come to my house?’ says Andrew Sarvis of West Coast Water Tenders.”
In the Ruins of Palisades Fire, Confronting My Elusive Malibu Life
“Memories, nostalgia and regret mix on a trek to find the old family home.”
An Ambulance, An Empty Lot and a Loophole: One Man’s Fight for a Place to Live
“He sees himself as many Angelenos do: in the gray area between homeless and homeowner.”
There are Trees in the Future, Or, A Case for Staying
“What is a city without its people, its history, its intimate relationships, its land and public spaces? If every place becomes any place, what difference does it make?”
