Homes are being rebuilt. Repairs are being completed. Yes, the din of construction work can be heard across Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
And that has spurred hope in the fire-ravaged areas, including determination among survivors to return to the areas.
But when will that return happen? That remains elusive for thousands, according to a fresh report out Thursday that says the rate of people returning or rebuilding, 18 months after the wildfires destroyed thousands of structures and killed at least 31 people, has “stagnated” for many residents in Altadena and the Palisades.
The group, the nonprofit Department of Angels — which has been tracking the recovery and the support that the region is receiving in a series of quarterly reports — says in its latest “Community Voices: LA Fire Recovery Report” that nearly half of wildfire survivors have depleted savings (49%) and taken on debt (48%). About 20% — 1 in 5 people — have had to delay repairs or rebuilding — and two thirds of survivors remain displaced.
The report follows weeks of concerns about gaps in the wildfire recovery, coupled with a recent full-court press on the federal government to send long-awaited funding to support the area, but which has stalled.
“Over the past 18 months, we have shown how resilient we are. We’ve pieced together our lives, we’ve advocated for our communities,” said Lisa Odigie, Eaton fire survivor and part of a delegation of survivors that recently traveled to Washington D.C. to advocate for funding. “Yet, despite our grit and resilience, there are members of our community who have been sleeping in tents or in cars because they have nowhere else to go.”
There was already significant concern about “critical gaps” in recovery, as both fire footprints inch toward rebuilding.
L.A. County’s own numbers show that out of 6,746 damaged or destroyed units in the Eaton fire footprint, 125 new residential units have been constructed. And while thousands of people were displaced, the county has received 3,583 applications to rebuild, with 3,155 building permits issued.
Similarly, in the Palisades footprint, according to the city of L.A., 3,837 permits have been issued on 6,063 applications.
In both cases, the numbers suggest there are still thousands of survivors who are not coming back, who have not yet decided to come back, or who are waiting to come back.
‘Strategically waiting’
John McCall, pastor of Bethel Church in Pasadena, is among them.
His multigenerational Altadena home of 42 years was destroyed in the fire, ultimately displacing them to the San Fernando Valley.
He’s excited for the day to come back to the property and rebuild. But it will take time, especially as his granddaughters continue their schooling at the school in the Valley. He doesn’t want to disrupt their school again — the way it was when the Eaton fire tore through the community.
“I’m reluctant to take them out of their school,” he said, especially known the trauma they faced in the first fire, a trauma that resurfaced when a recent fire in the San Fernando Valley prompted new questions: “One of them said to me, ‘Papa, are we going to burn up in the fire?’ I said, ‘No, nothing’s going to happen to Papa’s little girls.”
For now, he said, he’s “strategically waiting,” as the girls get through school, a lawsuit against Edison International plays out, even as neighbors rebuild next to his scorched lot.
As McCall himself points out, time is not on the side of many fire victims. There are members of his own congregation older than 80. Their homes — paid for but underinsured — remain in a kind of limbo on whether to rebuild.
For many, the future may depend on whether more support from local and governmental sources.
‘Critical Gaps’
By March of this year, leaders were already sensing the gaps.
Back then, L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger touted “rebuilding progress” but noted even then that 15 months after the disastrous Eaton fire on Jan. 7, thousands had yet to apply to rebuild in the fire’s footprint.
With more than 6,000 homes consumed in the fire, only about half of the impacted households had applied to rebuild – “signaling a critical gap in recovery,” Barger’s office said.
“… The fact that only half of wildfire survivors have submitted applications makes clear that significant barriers remain, especially financial ones,” Barger said.
The report out on Thursday echoed the point, and amplified troubling realities that persisted since the immediate aftermath of the fires.
Many people simply can’t afford to come back, and even when they do decide, the hurdles can cause major delays.
The report, based on a survey of 2,000 survivors, found that “the typical homeowner” still faces a $500,000 rebuilding gap — and renters remain about $100,000 short. And those gaps are made more acute amid a dwindling support reservoir coming from nonprofit, local, state and federal sources, according to the report.
Among those earning less than $50,000 annually, the report said:
–36% have cut back on food;
–31% have relied on food assistance;
–26% have experienced unstable housing;
–21% have gone without healthcare; and
–13% have experienced homelessness.
Among those earning between $50,000 and $99,999, 20% have cut back on food, 18% have experienced unstable housing, and 7% have experienced homelessness, according to the report.
But even among those with higher incomes, the pain of recovery is salient.
People earning $500,000 or more, 36% have depleted a significant portion of their savings, the report noted. And more than 70% of people earning between $250,000 and $499,999 have experienced “at least one form of significant financial hardship as a result of the fire.”
And it’s not like housing costs are getting any cheaper over time.
Survivors reported paying significantly more for housing each month than they did before the fires.
Three in four homeowners who experienced total loss saw their housing costs increase, with a median increase of $1,500 per month, according to the report.
The report acknowledged that while some people with standing homes are completing their repairs and remediation and returning home, thousands face “a long road.”
As it has for months, insurance, finances and mental strains remain at the core of the issue for thousands contemplating their futures.
For homeowners who faced a total loss of their home, the median insurance gap is $600,000, the survey found.
That deficit was largest in Malibu and Pacific Palisades, where the median gap exceeds $1 million compared to $500,000 in Altadena.
The gap survivors face varies significantly, determined largely by their insurer. Survivors insured through the California FAIR Plan face the largest median deficit at $600,000, followed by Farmers and State Farm at $500,000 and $450,000 respectively, according to the report, which noted varying levels of frustration and satisfaction with insurance companies.
Pausing for now
The uncertainty over financial hurdles that come up in the recovery process has been a persistent theme, said Zaire Calvin, a community leader known by many as the “Voice of the Village.” Calvin’s sister, Evelyn McClendon, died in the Eaton fire and his family lost four homes.
Calvin said he’s noticed recently survivors taking a pause after hearing about disputes with mortgage lenders over payments.
“People are having to take loans out to get in place a certain amount of work done for that money to be released,” he said. “It’s stressing people out.”
Calvin noted that there’s definitely hope amid the buzz of rebuilding right now in his community. Indeed. He’s leading an effort to be 85% rebuilt by 2028.
People on the rebuild sidelines are seeing how fast a house can go up, and want to be a part of that, Calvin said. But for many, he added, excitement is tempered with the starts and stops of the “roadblocks” to rebuilding, much of it over battles with insurance companies and of late with mortgage companies.
When word spreads among survivors of such battles, it worries many who genuinely want to come back, and gives them pause.
That’s taking its toll, he said, adding that the systems many thought were set up to help people in such a crisis haven’t fully been there. People are having to battle them rather then work with them.
“Just because we’re resilient, doesn’t mean that we should be required to have to go trough this, and that’s what sucks,” he said. “It’s like going to war, fighting during the war, then coming back… and you start a whole other war.”
One silver lining in the report: Compared to an April survey, more survivors have pledged to rebuild, “no matter what.”
More than half — 56%, to be exact — “plan to rebuild, repair, or remediate their homes no matter what, a ten-point increase from April, the survey found, adding that another 23% plan to do so, “but only if they can figure out a way to make it work financially.”
The survey also found that the share of survivors who have sold or are in the process of selling their property, or plan to do so, has held nearly steady, at 7%. About 14% remain undecided, down from 20% in April.
The report also echoed ongoing mental-health concerns.
Three-quarters of survivors reported that their mental health is worse compared to before the fires, and 8% say it has improved, a number that the survey’s organizers say has remained consistent since tracking began back in June 2025. There was one notable exception: mental health deteriorated around December, coinciding with the holiday season and the one-year anniversary of the fires, officials said.
The report comes amid a recent push from local officials on the Trump administration and Congress to fund the disaster-ridden areas, funding that has been slow if at all in recent federal budget plans.
Last week, Reps. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, and Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, led an effort urging their colleagues in Congress to withhold their support for the Trump administration’s Iran war funding request until the body approves “long-overdue” disaster funding for areas impacted by the Eaton and Palisades fires.
They pointed to the Trump administration’s request for $67 billion to fund U.S. military operations in the Iran war – all that on top of Congress’ consideration of the Pentagon’s budget request of $1.15 trillion. With another $350 billion in “mandatory funding” the Trump administration wants added, together it would be the largest defense budget since World War II, adjusted for inflation, according to the Brookings Institution, a think tank.
That same week, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Barger sent joint letters to congressional leadership on Tuesday, seeking to secure $15.7 billion in federal funding for the region’s long-term rebuild from the catastrophic Palisades and Eaton fires.
“From Los Angeles to Sacramento to Washington, Supervisor Barger and I have worked together to fight for the resources wildfire survivors need and deserve — and we won’t stop until every family has returned home and every business has reopened its doors,” Bass said in a statement.
Just this week, local leaders and residents decried the lack of federal funding support to help reopen all of the county parks impacted by the Eaton fire.
The Altadena park system suffered more than $200 million in damage from the Eaton fire. Town Council President Nic Arnzen said it was “unconscionable” that the effort has received zero FEMA dollars.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” Calvin said. But it’s a really long tunnel.
McCall was among the group that went to D.C. with a goal of unlocking elusive federal support for recovery.
Despite the death of funding, he’s not giving in.
“The goal is to keep this before our elected leaders,” he said. “At some point, somebody’s going to get to someone who’s going to be able to make a difference.
“I’ve very optimistic,” he said, acknowledging that without federal support, recovery will take a long time. “The one constant in life is change.”