LA wildfire recovery: One year later, rebuilding lags for most survivors
TOI GLOBAL DESK | TOI GLOBAL | Jan 07, 2026, 23:42 IST
Twelve months post-wildfires in Los Angeles County, the path to recovery remains arduous. Countless families are struggling with the financial implications of inadequate insurance settlements. With only a few homes restored, vast tracts of land remain barren. Survivors confront soaring expenses and prolonged rebuilding timelines, leading some to reluctantly part with their properties.
One year after the most destructive wildfires in the L.A. area, fewer than a dozen homes have been rebuilt in Los Angeles County, with many residents struggling to afford reconstruction due to insufficient insurance payouts and slow recovery processes, despite the fires destroying approximately 13,000 homes and claiming 31 lives.
The Jan 7, 2025, Palisades and Eaton fires burned for over three weeks, followed by seven months of clean-up efforts. For many survivors, insurance coverage has proven inadequate to cover the substantial costs of rebuilding. Relief organizations are providing assistance, but the overall progress remains slow.
Ted Koerner, whose Altadena home was destroyed, stands as an exception. He liquidated about 80% of his retirement holdings to fund the rebuilding process after his insurance payout was delayed. He secured contractors quickly and moved decisively, completing his rebuild in just over four months.
Koerner was among the first to finish rebuilding shortly before Thanksgiving. His home was one of the few exceptions in the still largely flattened landscapes of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Most residents do not have the financial flexibility or resources that Koerner possessed. The streets in communities like Pacific Palisades and Altadena are still lined with dirt lots. In Malibu, only foundations and concrete piles remain of beachfront homes.
Neighborhoods remain dark at night, with few streetlamps replaced. Many homes that survived are uninhabited as families grapple with the challenge of clearing toxic contaminants left by the fires.
Koerner's urgency was partly driven by his concern that his golden retriever, Daisy Mae, might not live long enough to see a new home built. He also did not have to wait for his insurance payout to commence construction.
“That’s the only way we were going to get it done before all of a sudden my dog starts having labored breathing or something else happens,” Koerner said.
Daisy Mae is now back in her favorite spot in the yard under a 175-year-old Heritage Oak. Koerner finds solace in watching her while enjoying his morning coffee, an experience that brings tears to his eyes.
“We made it,” he said.
Approximately 900 homes are currently under construction, with potential completion later this year. However, many homeowners remain in limbo, uncertain about their ability to finance the rebuilding process.
A significant number of residents have permanently left their communities. Real estate data tracker Cotality reports that over 600 properties where single-family homes were destroyed have been sold.
“We’re seeing huge gaps between the money insurance is paying out, to the extent we have insurance, and what it will actually cost to rebuild and/or remediate our homes,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, a group representing 10,000 fire survivors, primarily from Altadena.
By December, less than 20% of individuals who experienced total home loss had finalized their insurance claims, according to a survey by the Department of Angels, a nonprofit established to advocate for recovery efforts post-disaster.
Roughly one-third of insured respondents held policies with State Farm, the state's largest private insurer, or the California FAIR plan, the insurer of last resort. These individuals reported significant dissatisfaction with both, citing burdensome requirements, low estimates, and difficulties in dealing with multiple adjusters.
In November, Los Angeles County initiated a civil investigation into State Farm's practices, examining potential violations of the state’s Unfair Competition law. Chen noted that the Eaton Fire Survivors Network has observed a surge in substantial payouts since the investigation began.
State Farm has stated its commitment to assisting its customers in recovering from the largest fire disaster the company has ever encountered.
Without clear answers from insurance providers, households are hesitant to commit to rebuilding projects that can easily exceed $1 million.
“They’re worried about getting started and running out of money,” Chen said.
Jessica Rogers discovered that her homeowner's coverage had been canceled only after the Palisades fire destroyed her home. As a fallback, the mother of two applied for a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration, but the application process was arduous. After losing her job due to the fire and subsequently experiencing identity theft, her approval for $550,000 came through last month.
She is still contemplating how to cover the remaining costs and questions whether she should deplete her 401(k) and resort to extreme frugality.
Rogers, who is now the executive director of the Pacific Palisades Long Term Recovery Group, estimates that hundreds of individuals in Pacific Palisades are in a similar situation, navigating FEMA and SBA processes to piece together funding for rebuilding.
Renters, condo owners, and mobile homeowners in the community are also facing challenges in returning to their homes. Many are simultaneously dealing with the psychological trauma of the fires.
“It’s not what people talk about, but it is incredibly apparent and very real,” said Rogers, who still experiences unexpected moments of crying.
The slow pace of rebuilding a year after the wildfires mirrors the recovery pattern observed after a December 2021 blaze near Boulder, Colorado, which destroyed over 1,000 homes.
“At the one-year mark, many lots had been cleared of debris and many residents had applied for building permits,” said Andrew Rumbach, co-lead of the Climate and Communities Program at Urban Institute. “Around the 18-month mark is when you start to see really significant progress in terms of going from handfuls to hundreds” of homes rebuilt.
The full scope of the recovery challenges will become clearer over time.
“You’re going to start to see some real inequality start to emerge where certain neighborhoods, certain types of people, certain types of properties are just lagging way far behind, and that becomes the really important question in the second year of a recovery: Who’s doing well and who is really struggling and why?” Rumbach stated.
This concern is particularly relevant in Altadena, a community that has historically attracted Black homeowners seeking to escape redlining and racial discrimination in other L.A. areas. In 2024, 81% of Black households in Altadena owned their homes, nearly double the national Black homeownership rate.
However, recent research by UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute indicated that as of August, 7 out of 10 Altadena homeowners whose properties were severely damaged in last year's wildfire had not yet initiated rebuilding or selling their homes. Among these, Black homeowners were 73% more likely than others to have taken no action.
Al and Charlotte Bailey have been living in an RV parked on the empty lot where their home once stood. They are financing their rebuild through their insurance payout and a loan, and they are also hoping for financial assistance from Southern California Edison. Several lawsuits allege that the company's equipment sparked the wildfire in Altadena.
“We had been here for 41 years and raised our family here, and in one night it was all gone,” said Al Bailey, 77. “We decided that, whatever it’s going to cost, this is our community."
The Jan 7, 2025, Palisades and Eaton fires burned for over three weeks, followed by seven months of clean-up efforts. For many survivors, insurance coverage has proven inadequate to cover the substantial costs of rebuilding. Relief organizations are providing assistance, but the overall progress remains slow.
Ted Koerner, whose Altadena home was destroyed, stands as an exception. He liquidated about 80% of his retirement holdings to fund the rebuilding process after his insurance payout was delayed. He secured contractors quickly and moved decisively, completing his rebuild in just over four months.
Koerner was among the first to finish rebuilding shortly before Thanksgiving. His home was one of the few exceptions in the still largely flattened landscapes of Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
Most residents do not have the financial flexibility or resources that Koerner possessed. The streets in communities like Pacific Palisades and Altadena are still lined with dirt lots. In Malibu, only foundations and concrete piles remain of beachfront homes.
Neighborhoods remain dark at night, with few streetlamps replaced. Many homes that survived are uninhabited as families grapple with the challenge of clearing toxic contaminants left by the fires.
Koerner's urgency was partly driven by his concern that his golden retriever, Daisy Mae, might not live long enough to see a new home built. He also did not have to wait for his insurance payout to commence construction.
“That’s the only way we were going to get it done before all of a sudden my dog starts having labored breathing or something else happens,” Koerner said.
Daisy Mae is now back in her favorite spot in the yard under a 175-year-old Heritage Oak. Koerner finds solace in watching her while enjoying his morning coffee, an experience that brings tears to his eyes.
“We made it,” he said.
Approximately 900 homes are currently under construction, with potential completion later this year. However, many homeowners remain in limbo, uncertain about their ability to finance the rebuilding process.
A significant number of residents have permanently left their communities. Real estate data tracker Cotality reports that over 600 properties where single-family homes were destroyed have been sold.
“We’re seeing huge gaps between the money insurance is paying out, to the extent we have insurance, and what it will actually cost to rebuild and/or remediate our homes,” said Joy Chen, executive director of the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, a group representing 10,000 fire survivors, primarily from Altadena.
By December, less than 20% of individuals who experienced total home loss had finalized their insurance claims, according to a survey by the Department of Angels, a nonprofit established to advocate for recovery efforts post-disaster.
Roughly one-third of insured respondents held policies with State Farm, the state's largest private insurer, or the California FAIR plan, the insurer of last resort. These individuals reported significant dissatisfaction with both, citing burdensome requirements, low estimates, and difficulties in dealing with multiple adjusters.
In November, Los Angeles County initiated a civil investigation into State Farm's practices, examining potential violations of the state’s Unfair Competition law. Chen noted that the Eaton Fire Survivors Network has observed a surge in substantial payouts since the investigation began.
State Farm has stated its commitment to assisting its customers in recovering from the largest fire disaster the company has ever encountered.
Without clear answers from insurance providers, households are hesitant to commit to rebuilding projects that can easily exceed $1 million.
“They’re worried about getting started and running out of money,” Chen said.
Jessica Rogers discovered that her homeowner's coverage had been canceled only after the Palisades fire destroyed her home. As a fallback, the mother of two applied for a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration, but the application process was arduous. After losing her job due to the fire and subsequently experiencing identity theft, her approval for $550,000 came through last month.
She is still contemplating how to cover the remaining costs and questions whether she should deplete her 401(k) and resort to extreme frugality.
Rogers, who is now the executive director of the Pacific Palisades Long Term Recovery Group, estimates that hundreds of individuals in Pacific Palisades are in a similar situation, navigating FEMA and SBA processes to piece together funding for rebuilding.
Renters, condo owners, and mobile homeowners in the community are also facing challenges in returning to their homes. Many are simultaneously dealing with the psychological trauma of the fires.
“It’s not what people talk about, but it is incredibly apparent and very real,” said Rogers, who still experiences unexpected moments of crying.
The slow pace of rebuilding a year after the wildfires mirrors the recovery pattern observed after a December 2021 blaze near Boulder, Colorado, which destroyed over 1,000 homes.
“At the one-year mark, many lots had been cleared of debris and many residents had applied for building permits,” said Andrew Rumbach, co-lead of the Climate and Communities Program at Urban Institute. “Around the 18-month mark is when you start to see really significant progress in terms of going from handfuls to hundreds” of homes rebuilt.
The full scope of the recovery challenges will become clearer over time.
“You’re going to start to see some real inequality start to emerge where certain neighborhoods, certain types of people, certain types of properties are just lagging way far behind, and that becomes the really important question in the second year of a recovery: Who’s doing well and who is really struggling and why?” Rumbach stated.
This concern is particularly relevant in Altadena, a community that has historically attracted Black homeowners seeking to escape redlining and racial discrimination in other L.A. areas. In 2024, 81% of Black households in Altadena owned their homes, nearly double the national Black homeownership rate.
However, recent research by UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute indicated that as of August, 7 out of 10 Altadena homeowners whose properties were severely damaged in last year's wildfire had not yet initiated rebuilding or selling their homes. Among these, Black homeowners were 73% more likely than others to have taken no action.
Al and Charlotte Bailey have been living in an RV parked on the empty lot where their home once stood. They are financing their rebuild through their insurance payout and a loan, and they are also hoping for financial assistance from Southern California Edison. Several lawsuits allege that the company's equipment sparked the wildfire in Altadena.
“We had been here for 41 years and raised our family here, and in one night it was all gone,” said Al Bailey, 77. “We decided that, whatever it’s going to cost, this is our community."