Altadena Strong: Building a Foundation for Equitable Recovery

Six months ago, like thousands of my neighbors, I lost my home to the LA County wildfires. Tucked against the foothills, on a leafy tree-lined street in Altadena, our house was the place where I raised my daughter, where my family gathered to celebrate joy and mourn loss. It was the heart of our lives — a place defined by warmth, belonging, and community.

Then, in just a few hours, the Eaton megafire swept through our neighborhood, destroying homes, shattering foundations, and forever altering our lives.

I share this personal loss because I want to talk about equitable recovery, particularly what it means to address the needs of all residents in the wake of tragic events. I don’t think I will ever forget watching the flames race toward my street or walking through the ashes of my beloved community. But my grief lives side by side with my forty years of housing and community-building experience, and I am drawing on both to help figure out what comes next.

As we move forward with recovery, we know this effort must prioritize our rich economic, social and cultural diversity—a defining feature of Altadena for decades. It must preserve housing affordability across all income levels, protect multi-generational wealth, and ensure legacy residents are able to rebuild and return. That’s true particularly for Black homeowners whose families put down roots in Altadena following the end of legal redlining, with properties often handed down to children and grandchildren. At the time of the fire, Altadena had a Black homeownership rate that was double the national average. We want to do all we can to preserve that rich history.

An equitable rebuild also means protecting residents against speculators. We can’t stand by and allow predatory developers to exploit the disaster by acquiring properties at unfairly low prices, driving luxury development, and making Altadena decreasingly affordable for middle-class families. More than 200 destroyed single-family properties have already been sold, many to LLCs with foreign ownership, and just as many properties are currently listed for sale. I fear if that takes root, Altadena will never be the same.

Toward that end, we want to preserve the physical characteristics of our community as well. The architectural styles of the single-family homes in Altadena are rich and eclectic, a harmonious blend of traditional and modern. This might mean adding gentle density within single-family neighborhoods and modest density in commercial areas. We need to both replace homes and apartments that were lost to the fire and also expand our local stock of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households, so many of which are cost burdened.

Lastly, we need to rebuild in ways that make us more resilient, so Altadena is better able to withstand fires in the future. That includes encouraging the use of energy-efficient features like solar panels to lower long-term costs for residents and contribute to long-term environmental sustainability, as well as opportunities for other fire-hardening investments.

Of course, meeting all these goals—equity, affordability, and resilience—simultaneously is a challenge. And we won’t succeed unless the community leads the process. A recovery strategy that lacks ongoing engagement with residents will fall short. We need a grassroots-driven, collaborative effort that reflects local voices and values. Imagine neighbors coordinating design and rebuilding efforts, government agencies partnering with residents to reconstruct public infrastructure, and a shared plan to restore Altadena’s commercial corridors, schools, parks, and community spaces.

Wearing my professional hat as the President and CEO of the Housing Partnership Network (HPN), I’ve been thinking strategically about how our national network can support Altadena’s recovery--how I can lend my expertise, time and treasure to support my community, and how HPN and its members can best contribute. I want to mention two rebuilding programs and projects that are underway and are quite promising. Both are the direct result of conversations with residents about what they need. Both are deliberate about reaching people who are economically vulnerable. And both recognize the historical and cultural significance of Altadena.

The first is a new Breathing Room Loan (BRL) program administered by the Altadena Builds Back Foundation (ABBF). I was so honored to join the board of this newly formed foundation, launched in April by the Pasadena Community Foundation. ABBF has been deeply engaged on everything from program design to fundraising—all focused on what it will take to fuel an equitable rebuilding strategy for Altadena.

The BRL program is designed to give people the time they need to evaluate whether to rebuild or sell, so they aren’t pressured to sell prematurely. Residents told us this was one of their greatest concerns. ABBF hopes to raise and deploy up to $55 million and offer favorable loans at zero interest and no fee through single-family lending partners, at an average of $100,000 each for a one-year term. The loans would be repaid from proceeds if the property owner decides to sell; if the owner rebuilds, the loan could be extended for up to 60 months. Our hope is that many Altadena fire survivors can rebuild their homes and return to their community.

The second is the new Altadena Rental Rebuilding Collaborative (ARRC), which is assembling financing for a nearly $29 million rebuilding effort led by three prominent local housing organizations and two HPN members—Abode Communities, Mercy Housing California and Hollywood Community Housing. With additional support from philanthropy and other funders, including HPN, ARRC will support the production of over 200 homes through garden-style walk up apartments and modular mixed-use multifamily developments. All the housing will be enriched with onsite resident services that prioritize financial capacity-building, and the effort will also help revitalize commercial corridors, prioritizing small businesses and other community-serving organizations, like health centers.

ARRC is creating a revolving predevelopment loan fund and is leveraging grant funding to secure private capital. The goal is to rely as little as possible on traditional Low Income Housing Tax Credits—a vitally important affordable housing tool, but one that presents challenges related to timing, cost and complexity in this context.

You can tell by the approach of BRL and ARRC that these programs are the direct result of community engagement, as well as a byproduct of decades of local community development experience. For me, that is encouraging, both as an Altadena homeowner and as an affordable housing practitioner. I know from experience that collaboration can create opportunities for efficiencies and large-scale gains. It has long been fundamental to community development plans.

But I would also mention this: there is a great deal being thrown at fire survivors right now. As is often the case in disasters, there are myriad groups stepping up to help—from developers, architects and builders to mission-driven lenders and investors. But that commitment doesn’t necessarily mean that these efforts are coordinated. It doesn’t mean that residents understand how to access them. It doesn’t mean that they are forged with residents, rather than just on their behalf.

Whether in Altadena or any other place hit hard by disaster, we can’t leave people behind as we rebuild. Beloved communities, no matter where they are, deserve nothing less.