Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered an extension of rent and mortgage protections for people impacted by the January wildfires.

Newsom’s executive order maintains price-gouging restrictions for rental housing, hotels and short-term housing, according to the order, and gives fire survivors who are facing homelessness priority for state-funded housing.

“As the Los Angeles community continues to recover and rebuild, the state remains steadfast in its commitment to providing targeted relief and assistance,” Newsom said in a statement. “Today I am issuing an executive order to further ensure that survivors are protected from exploitation and can access housing they need.”

Two months since the Eaton and Palisades fires exploded on two ends of L.A. County, the goal, according to Newsom’s office, is to continue “immediate” access to housing and insulate survivors facing housing issues from potential exploitation.

With more than 16,000 structures damaged or destroyed by the fire, tens of thousands of people have found themselves displaced by the fires.

That displacement sparked immediate gouging, which grew in the weeks after the fires. It prompted the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to approve an increase in the maximum civil penalty for price gouging to $50,000 per violation.

One venture capital-backed startup, for example, illegally jacked up rents for furnished apartments in Los Angeles by more than 50%, the L.A. City Attorney’s office alleged in a lawsuit.

The governor’s order, according to Newsom’s office:

• Extends price gouging protections on rental housing, hotels and motel rates, including prohibitions on evicting tenants to relist the rental at a higher rate until July 1, while retaining exemptions for large homes in ZIP codes with high fair market values, which have not recently been on the rental market, to help ensure they are available for rental during recovery efforts.

• Exempts newly constructed housing to increase housing supply by enabling pricing flexibility for these new buildings that face higher financing costs.

• Extends the suspension of laws that would classify occupants of hotels, motels and temporary housing as tenants after 30 days, giving people more time to find alternative housing.

• Prioritizes fire survivors who are now homeless by prioritizing them on waiting lists for state-funded housing for which they otherwise qualify so they can secure housing faster, consistent with the approach taken by the federal government in response to emergencies.

• Supports rebuilding two commercial corridors in Altadena to their pre-fire character to support small businesses and rebuild walkable, vibrant community spaces.

Water in the Palisades

The two-month anniversary of the start of the fires also brought other measures related to the recovery.

Starting Friday, for example, people could again drink the water in Pacific Palisades, with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power set to lift a “do not drink” notice.

Mayor Karen Bass made the announcement Thursday, saying crews continue to make significant progress cleaning up debris left by the deadly Palisades fire.

“In the two months since the devastating fires broke out, we’ve made historic progress in rebuilding,” Bass said during a morning news conference at the city’s new Unified Utilities Rebuild Operations Center in Pacific Palisades.

“Water and power have been restored,” she added, “and last week we completed Phase 1 of debris removal process — both months ahead of expectations.”

The mayor said officials are leading the “fastest recovery effort in the state’s history” and added that, next week, she will use her emergency executive powers to direct city departments to create a streamlined path for people who want to build in a more resilient way, such as using fireproof materials.

“The past two months have been a defining time for our city,” Bass said. “We will continue to do all that we can to bring this community home.”

After the “do not drink” notice lifted Friday, LADWP crews continued testing water in the Palisades area, officials said. The department is asking residents to flush out their pipes with the following tips:

• Prepare your site for flushing by removing aerators and screens from all faucets. Set water-softening devices and filters, both point-of-use and whole-house to “bypass mode.”

• Flush outside plumbing by opening and flushing any external fixtures and hose bibs/faucets for about 10 minutes or until water is clear and temperature is constant.

• Flush cold water by running all cold-water faucets on the property, beginning with the faucet closest to the water line. Run the water at the highest flow (or fully open) for about 10 minutes or until water is clear and temperature is constant. Then turn off all faucets in reverse order.

• Flush all toilets and urinals at least once but repeat if the refilled water is not clear. Flush hot water by draining your hot water tank to discharge any accumulated sediments. Wait for the hot water tank to refill and flush, as in Step 3 (flush cold water).

• Clean aerators and screens, and reattach to faucets, shower heads and fixtures.

• Flush appliances by running an empty dishwasher and washing machine once on the rinse cycle. Empty ice from ice maker bin, run ice maker and discard two additional batches of ice.

• Restore all removed filters and reset all water devices from “bypass mode.”

Each property will have instructions on-site to assist with the flushing process, said DWP General Manager Janisse Quiñones. Officials, she added, were able to lift the notice Friday because of the hard work of DWP crews.

“We have nearly 100 miles of water pipes in the Palisades that serve over 8,400 homes and businesses,” Quiñones said. “We worked very close with our state regulator and followed their guidance, and met all of their strict requirements.

“We’re proud to announce today,” she added, “that water is safe to resume drinking and using throughout the Palisades effective tomorrow.”

Customers will be credited $50 to their DWP accounts so they can flush out their pipes without worrying about an extra cost.

Significant progress has also been made in restoring the power system, Quiñones said, with 800 power poles and 50,00 feet of cable replaced, and power to thousands of homes and businesses turned back on. Some 143 customers remain without power, however, as they are located in challenging areas, she said.

‘Undergrounding’

DWP is also moving forward with its “undergrounding plan,” placing 4,000 feet of cables underground.

FEMA Regional Administrator Bob Fenton and Col. Eric Swenson, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, encouraged Palisades residents to sign up for available programs.

FEMA approved more than $83 million in assistance for fire victims, and the Small Business Administration provided another $1.4 billion in loans and financial aid, Fenton said.

The FEMA Individual Assistance, SBA Disaster Loan and Disaster Unemployment Assistance have a Monday, March 10, deadline. L.A. County’s Small Business Relief Fund is also available until Wednesday, March 12.

FEMA’s wildfire debris removal program is accepting applications for free cleanups through March 31.

Bass, meanwhile, also reminded Palisades residents that they can now obtain original building plans for their lost homes at the LA One-Stop Rebuilding Center. Homeowners can request their plans via email at records.ladbs@lacity.org and at the One-Stop Rebuilding Center in person. Government issued ID, a copy of the property’s recorded deed and completion of this form (bit.ly/41LN5Ih) are required to obtain plans.

The One-Stop Rebuilding Center, 1828 Sawtelle Blvd., is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the weekends.

Politics

There was also news on the federal level, regarding the response to the fires.

A memo obtained by The Washington Post showed that the Army Corps of Engineers colonel tasked with releasing water from two California reservoirs at President Donald Trump’s direction in January knew that it was unlikely to reach the southern part of the state as Trump had promised, according to the Post.

Col. Chad W. Caldwell, commander of the Army Corps’ Sacramento district, wrote that the water that poured out of Lake Kaweah and Success Lake “could not be delivered to Southern California directly,” the Post article said.

To get that done, the memo said, several steps of coordination with state and federal agencies would be needed to transport the water to a rarely used connection point. Even as the Corps was pressed by a Trump executive order to do it fast, it was not possible to move the water in so little time, according to the memo.

The agency ultimately obeyed Trump’s order, but after concerns over the impact of potential flooding, the agency tamped down the flow of water, according to the Post’s report of the memo.

California water officials warned back in January that there was no truth to President Donald Trump’s assertion that the U.S. military has entered California and “turned on the water.”

Trump’s comments in January, on his social media platform Truth Social, were the latest in a series of remarks he’d made and actions he’d taken related to the state’s water policy following the wildfires.

“The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond,” the president wrote. “The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”

But the California Department of Water Resources said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the “military did not enter California.”

“The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days,” the agency posted. “State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.”

Trump has incorrectly said California’s water conveyance policies are to blame for hydrants running dry as Los Angeles-area wildfires raged on. In January, he threatened to withhold federal aid for the region unless the state changed its approach on water management. Then, his administration released an executive order that aimed to send more federally controlled water south.

The Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.