Thousands of Angelenos who lost their homes in the most destructive wildfires in California history find themselves in fierce competition with each other to find affordable housing in the Los Angeles real estate market after the disaster.
The fires have killed at least 27 people through Friday and destroyed more than 10,000 structures in the residential enclaves of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. In the wake of the fires, rents skyrocketed and uncertainty over insurance payouts left some displaced people in limbo.
In interviews this week, Angelenos described the anguish of exile from a neighborhood they loved and the daunting task of figuring out what’s next for themselves and their families. Here are some of their stories:
A COMPLETELY CRAZY RENTAL MARKET
John Adolph, a 48-year-old video producer, and his wife, two young children and two dogs have been staying with friends since leaving their Altadena home a week ago. The ranch-style home they had lived in for six years near the Angeles National Forest was completely destroyed by the Eaton Fire.
“We thank God that we are safe, but we don’t know what awaits us,” he said. “We’re both lucky our jobs are still there. I know people who have lost their livelihood and have to start all over again. We still have jobs.
Adolph and his wife, Christine, are lifelong Angelenos and have no plans to leave the area permanently “unless they have to do it kicking and screaming,” he said. he declared.
For now, the family is content to stay with friends, but they know it’s a lot to ask in the long run. They were already looking for apartments to rent.
“We have two children and elderly dogs, we can’t go from a hotel room to an Airbnb,” he explains. “We need something stable for the children.
When they went to view a rental, six families were already in line in front of them.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” Adolph said. “It’s becoming crazy.
Even if his home was insured, he worries that rising construction costs and new insurance rates would force them to leave their own neighborhood.
“So it’s not clear that we can actually rebuild,” he said. He has no idea how long it will take the county to clear the debris before he can begin. “We would really like to stay, but who knows, we don’t know.
MUSICAL CHAIRS
On the GoFundMe page created by Kate Alexandria, she shows a photo of the fire that ravaged her rental apartment in Altadena and indicates that her credit cards are maxed out. By Friday, Internet users had donated more than $3,000.
Ms. Alexandria, 27, a grant writer, moved to Los Angeles from Grass Valley, a small town north of Sacramento, three years ago after being disconcerted by the devastating wildfires. near.
She rented what she describes as an illegally converted apartment in Altadena, above garages filled with fuel, paint and other fire accelerants. In due time, she was sharing the $2,000 monthly rent, a bargain in Los Angeles, with a roommate.
After the fire, the landlord refunded January’s rent, but she still hasn’t gotten back her $2,000 deposit, which she says she badly needs.
Alexandria says she takes about 40 different medications to control the painful symptoms of her disability, but most of the medications were destroyed by the fire. Replacing prescriptions will cost hundreds of dollars.
Her cat is staying at a friend’s house in Pasadena, which is being renovated, while she is staying with a friend’s mother in Van Nuys, about 30 miles west of Altadena , until Saturday, when the mother returns from a trip. Most of the time, she commutes between the two places.
“It’s a bit of a game of musical chairs,” she says. FEMA gave him a first payment of $770, which is low in a city as expensive as Los Angeles. She’s trying to get a disaster loan from Airbnb.org, which would allow her to rent an apartment for at least a few days.
California prohibits price increases more than 10% during a declared disaster, but rents have still increased. Looking through apartment listings, Alexandria found that units listed for $2,000 a month in January were now selling for more than $3,000.
-She is dismayed by what she calls the “gloominess” of the owners, but dreams of returning to her beloved neighborhood.
“It’s the weirdest and most wonderful place in Los Angeles,” she says.
IT FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN A GHOST TOWN
“I feel like where you live is part of your identity,” said Deisy Suarez-Giles, who lost the four-bedroom house she bought in Altadena in 2021, along with the garden citrus and avocado trees that she had planted on the property. “I feel like part of our identity has disappeared.
She and her husband, Keith Giles, landed a hotel room in downtown Los Angeles near their spa business for about $170 a night, a sort of employee discount because the hotel uses their masseurs.
On Friday, they moved into an apartment rented free by Airbnb for 10 days. After that, they don’t know where they will end up.
The couple sent their two young sons to stay with relatives in Florida until some stability was restored.
She and her husband still have to pay the mortgage each month on their destroyed home, for which they still owe $850,000. Repaying the mortgage is all the more difficult as they relied in part on the rent paid by a tenant living in a studio at the back of the house. Plus, their spa business is suddenly slow.
“We fought and now with the fire we feel like a ghost town,” she said. “No one is feeling ‘spa’ right now.”
She is waiting for the insurer to tell her the amount of expenses it will reimburse over the next 12 months. Before seriously looking for a rental, they need to know their budget.
They’ve put out a few RFPs, but the boys’ new Christmas puppy is an easy reason for owners to reject them: “No pets.”
LUCKY AND BLESSED
Kathleen McRoskey closed on the purchase of her two-story, four-bedroom home on the day of the 1994 earthquakes, and left it last week, just before it was consumed by the fire. Palisades.
She and her husband, Mike, both grew up within a few miles of the Palisades and met in first grade. They decided to stay in the neighborhood where they raised their four children.
The family currently lives in her husband’s sister’s house near the University of California, Los Angeles.
“It’s priceless to be with family and be just a few miles from where we lost our home,” Ms McRoskey said. “On the other hand, we are putting a burden on him.
Navigating the Los Angeles market has been a real shock. A friend of her husband’s, who works in real estate, recommended an unlisted house for rent in Santa Barbara, leading to a morning tour of the property that she said looked like a “drug deal.” .
They know they have a relatively generous budget because a few months ago her husband decided to increase their fire insurance coverage after helping an elderly woman who was having difficulty filing a claim after lost his home in the 2018 Malibu fire.
“We are extremely lucky and blessed,” she says.
They hope to head up the coast to Santa Barbara in February, when they begin thinking about the process of building a new house on their Palisades property, which will take years.
“We never dreamed of rebuilding at 70,” she said.
