SOLUTIONS

Projects, priorities, and initiatives to help Altadena renters and tenants stabilize, recover, and come home

 

THE PROBLEMS

Recovery efforts aren’t designed around renters and tenants, and often don’t include us. More than a year after the fire, many of us are still struggling to survive. The data analyzed by UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute lays out the overlapping challenges:

  • Disaster recovery programs in the US aren’t designed for and often don’t include tenants.

    • Disaster recovery programs in the United States focus heavily on supporting property owners. Tenants receive far less federal (and state, local, and philanthropic) assistance—just 22 cents for every $1 homeowners receive in FEMA aid distributed in 2022—yet face similarly slow, bureaucratic delays.

  • Tenants come into disasters at an economic disadvantage and face greater strain from post-disaster exploitation.

    • Before the Eaton Fire, the median household income for tenant-occupied households was about $73,000 - less than half the median income of owner-occupied households ($150,000) and well below the overall Altadena household median ($129,000).

    • Average rent in Altadena pre-fire was about $1,792 for a one-bedroom unit. About 40 percent of tenants paid less than $1,500 per month. In the months following the disaster, however, comparable units averaged $2,350 per month. Rent gouging complaints across Los Angeles County spiked from 26 reports as of January 7, 2025 to 1,343 reports by January 18, 2025. New rental listings were priced at 315% of Fair Market Rent, nearly double the legally allowed ceiling for disaster-declared areas.

  • Landlords, developers, insurance companies, and utilities have strong political influence and deep pockets.

    • Tenants rarely have the same level of organized power, so when recovery decisions are made, we often have fewer resources and fewer people fighting on our behalf. These pressures shape not only how tenants experience the immediate aftermath of a disaster, but also whether they can remain connected to their community as recovery unfolds.

  • We don’t know how we can afford to stay, or what a path to recovery actually looks like.

In the short term, we need stabilization & safety. In the medium term, we need policy protections and enforcement. And in the long term, we need permanently affordable housing that combats displacement. These are some of the projects actively working toward those goals:

SOLUTION:

Stabilize renter and tenant families with long-term, guaranteed direct cash.

At the one-year anniversary of the Los Angeles wildfires, many members of our community are still struggling to survive. The combined pressures of high rents, financial impacts, increased costs, and uncertainty have left many behind. Without sustained and predictable support, many members of our community will be permanently displaced. We know that the most helpful defense against displacement is cash: paid directly to survivors, on a predictable schedule, with no strings attached. In response, along with our partners at NCJWLA and Altadena Community Land Trust, as well as a range of other partners, we are deploying a first-in-the-nation, long-term direct cash disaster recovery program. 

HOW IT WORKS:

Fund and expand the Direct Cash for Altadena Fire Recovery project, expanding enrollment and eligibility. With $1.5M+ secured to date, we are actively pursuing additional funds to expand the pool (initial enrolled cohort will include 30 households).

Direct Cash for Altadena Fire Recovery provides meaningful, sustained support to vulnerable, renter households with dependents. The program will provide direct cash support to selected participants on a monthly schedule with no restrictions on use of funds. In addition to financial assistance, participants will have access to optional supportive services aimed at strengthening long-term recovery. All eligible applicants will be entered into a selection pool, from which 30 households will be randomly selected to join the program. Selected participants will receive $36,000 over 24 months. Direct Cash for Altadena Fire Recovery has the potential to provide a new blueprint for long-term disaster recovery. Our partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Guaranteed Income Research will support impact measurement and real-time data to help shape future disaster responses.

SOLUTION:

Build permanently affordable housing for returning Altadena families using the community land trust model.

Before the Eaton Fire, Altadena was home to an uncommonly affordable landscape of rental units, a key contributor to Altadena’s enduring socioeconomic diversity. Renters and tenants accounted for more than a quarter of Altadena’s 43,000 residents, numbering some 10-15,000 individuals across 3,300-4,000 households. Contrary to common beliefs about renter households, Altadena’s renters were mostly families and were deeply tied to the community: according to research from UCLA, 90% had 5+ years of residence in Altadena, and approximately two-thirds had moved into their units before 2018. 74% of lost rental properties have not filed for any rebuild permits as of the first quarter of 2026. Without substantial investment in rebuilding affordable housing, many longtime Altadena renter households lack a pathway back into the community and face permanent displacement.

HOW IT WORKS:

Altadena Community Land Trust is developing a bungalow court pilot projectto serve as proof of concept and as a model for what that pathway back could look like. Utilizing a historically-sensitive form of multifamily housing and a gentle density model that respects the limitations of Altadena’s infrastructure as well as the quality of life for both residents and neighbors, this pilot project offers high-quality, beautiful, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing for displaced renters and tenants, while also providing an equity stake in the community and a viable path to homeownership. Fully funding this project with grant money represents a permanent investment in Altadena’s long-term socioeconomic diversity and a pathway back for displaced renter and tenant families (total need: $4.25M).

SOLUTION:

Close the RSTPO loophole to protect rebuilt rental housing in Altadena.

The January 2025 Eaton Fire caused widespread destruction across Altadena’s housing stock, including a substantial share of the community’s units subject to “Fully Covered” rent stabilization. As rebuilding begins, there is a critical and immediate policy risk: Los Angeles County’s current Rent Stabilization and Tenant Protections Ordinance (RSTPO) does not ensure that “Fully Covered” rent stabilization protections and requirements are preserved after a disaster. UCLA LPPI’s analysis finds that prior to the fire, a substantial share of “Fully Covered” rent-stabilized units were located in fire-affected areas. Over two-thirds were within the fire perimeter, and approximately 39 percent were on properties that experienced severe structural damage. These units were not only numerous; they were also among the most affordable in the community. On average, rent-stabilized two-bedroom units rented for approximately $600 less per month than comparable non-rent-stabilized units, while three-bedroom units rented for about $700 less. Without policy intervention, many of these units are unlikely to return at their previous rent levels, or at all. Where rebuilding does occur, units are likely to re-enter the market at higher costs and outside of rent stabilization protections. In the absence of clear requirements, the County has no mechanism to ensure that affordability is preserved in the rebuilding process. The result is a permanent shift in the local housing market, with fewer regulated units and increasing barriers for displaced residents seeking to return. Without clarification and active intervention, the rebuilding process will result in the permanent loss of “Fully Covered” rent-stabilized housing and the affordability it provides.

HOW IT WORKS:

LA County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) can develop amendments to the RSTPO that explicitly address the treatment of rent-stabilized housing following disaster-related destruction. At a minimum, these amendments should clarify that units subject to “Fully Covered” rent stabilization prior to a disaster retain that status upon rebuild, regardless of changes in permitting or certificate of occupancy, in order to ensure continuity of rent stabilization protections and long-term affordability in Los Angeles County. County Planning, in coordination with DCBA, to identify and implement targeted rebuilding supports for rent-stabilized and other affordable units. This could include evaluating opportunities for streamlined permitting, fee waivers, and density or unit replacement incentives that make it financially feasible for property owners to rebuild while maintaining affordability.

SOLUTION:

Make 300 free post-fire tests a month available to Altadena households.

Thousands of homes (including much rental housing) that did not burn in the Los Angeles fires were heavily contaminated by dangerous toxins such as lead, arsenic, and asbestos. While the Department of Public Health has acknowledged that there should be a presumption of contamination for all homes in and near the burn zone, there are currently no public programs to provide contamination testing for standing structures. A Department of Angels survey indicated that 1 in 3 survivors who wanted testing weren’t able to get the testing they need. Insurance companies often won’t provide any testing, and even if they do cover remediation to address contamination, they don’t provide post-remediation testing for families to know if their homes are really safe. Uninsured fire survivors who want testing have no choice but to pay what can be thousands of dollars out of pocket through a private company; renters and tenants often have no ability to get testing results for their housing. Many survivors, who have had their funds depleted during displacement, were forced to return to un-tested units, or to units they know but can’t afford to prove are contaminated.

HOW IT WORKS:

Ensure that CONSORTIUM funding currently moving through the state budget process ($25M) is directed to fund a Free Community Testing Lab in partnership with UCLA to provide accessible and comprehensive post-fire contamination testing for fire-impacted homes. The lab would provide some 3,600 free tests to fire survivors, prioritizing under-resourced families. The lab would provide comprehensible and usable test results to ensure survivors know what’s in their homes and whether they need smoke remediation, and to advocate with landlords or insurance companies. The community lab would sit at UCLA and would be overseen by a foremost asbestos testing expert with experience testing homes impacted by the Los Angeles fires as part of CAP.LA and the LA Fire HEALTH study in partnership with Harvard University. Testing panels would include lead, CAM 17 Heavy Metals, asbestos (TEM), VOCs, and PAHs. The Free Community Testing Lab would deliver up to 300 tests/month for fire survivors (3,600 comprehensive indoor contamination tests in a year), as well as eight jobs created for fire-impacted community members, including six people who would be trained in contamination testing sample collection. (Total cost: $5.3M; $4.5M to UCLA to operate the testing lab + $800,000 for community coordinators and sample takers for 1 year).