Rebuilding Altadena: Housing Recovery After the Eaton Fire
UCLA LPPI and local partners are tracking recovery and rebuilding in one of LA County’s hardest-hit communities after the 2025 Eaton Fire.
About the Project
The January 2025 Eaton Canyon wildfire devastated thousands of homes in Altadena and revealed long-standing racial and economic inequities in recovery. With support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI) has launched Rebuilding Altadena: Housing Recovery After the Eaton Fire, a four-part data brief series that examines how the community is recovering after the disaster, and what equitable recovery could look like in practice.
The project builds a detailed picture of how recovery is unfolding in Altadena during the first year after the Eaton Fire. The briefs examine homeowners’ rebuilding progress, changes in the rental market, and residents’ personal and financial realities of recovery as they navigate insurance, aid, and displacement. Together, these insights will guide local and state partners in advancing more equitable and resilient recovery efforts in the face of future climate disasters.
Our approach
Data Brief #1: Who’s Coming Home?
An Analysis of the Property Sales, Permits, & Rebuilding Efforts of Single-Family Homeowners in Altadena, CA After the Eaton Fire
This first brief examines how racial and economic inequities are shaping post-fire recovery among single-family homeowners after the 2025 Eaton Fire. Findings reveal that most severely affected households, particularly Black homeowners, remain in limbo and have yet to make any public decisions about rebuilding or selling their property.
Published: Oct. 8, 2025
Data Brief #2: Which Rentals Remain?
Tracking Rental Loss, Affordability Gaps & Recovery in Altadena, After the Eaton Fire
This second brief will analyze how the Eaton Fire reshaped Altadena’s rental housing landscape, focusing on pre-Eaton fire rental market and how the loss of affordable units might increase displacement pressures.
Data Brief #3: What Do Their Stories Reveal?
Insights from the Assessments & Reflections of Survivors After the Eaton Fire in Altadena, CA
This third brief will examine how household-level recovery narratives, from crowdfunding and fundraising platforms, can shed light on the financial strain and individual circumstances that could drive uneven recovery in Altadena.
Data Brief #4: Who’s Recovering?
Assessing Household Patterns and Inequities in Recovery Trajectories in Altadena, CA After the Eaton Fire
The fourth brief will analyze household recovery trajectories in post-fire Altadena. In close partnership with CBOs, we will explore trends and patterns in how access to recovery resources translates into recovery, and what gaps remain for residents to achieve long-term housing stability.
Webinar – The Altadena Recovery: Who Gets to Come Back?
Altadena Recovery Webinar Presentation Deck
Meet Our Research Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board brings together tenant advocates, housing service providers, and local leaders guiding Altadena’s equitable recovery. Members help ground the research in lived experience and shape the project’s policy recommendations.
In the News
See where our Rebuilding Altadena research and data have been featured in local and statewide media coverage.
- One Year Later: A look at Eaton Fire recovery efforts | January 8, 2026, Fox40 News
- 1 Year Later: Altadena residents attempt to rebuild their lives after Eaton Fire | January 8, 2026, Pasadena Weekly
- One year after the Los Angeles Fires | January 8, 2026, Afro-Conscious Media
- Fewer than a dozen homes have been rebuilt a year after being burned down in LA-area wildfires | January 7, 2026, AP News
- The Palisades and Eaton fires, one year later | January 7, 2026, NPR’s “1A”
- The Los Angeles wildfires were ‘the perfect storm’. Is the city ready for the next one? | January 7, 2026, The Guardian
- A Year After Fires, L.A.’s Rocky Recovery Is Shaped by Wealth, Insurance and Red Tape | January 5, 2026, Wall Street Journal
- TAn uninsured Altadenan is determined to rebuild. Will the obstacles be insurmountable?| October 20, 2025, LAist
- Study results find wildfire rebuilding gaps in Altadena | October 13, 2025, CBS News LA/KCAL-TV
- Will Altadena residents ‘come home’? A new report seeks answers amid unsettling and mixed patterns | October, 9, 2025, Los Angeles Daily News
- Report: Altadena homeowners struggling to rebuild after Eaton Fire | October, 9, 2025, KNBC-TV
- Estudio: proceso de reconstrucción en Altadena es lento | October, 9, 2025, Telemundo 52-TV
- Racial Disparities in Wildfire Recovery | October, 9, 2025, KNBC-TV
- A new study from ucla says many homeowners in altadena are struggling to rebuild | October, 9, 2025, KTLA-TV
- 70% of damaged homes in Eaton Fire burn scar remain in rebuilding limbo, UCLA report finds | October, 9, 2025, ABC 7-TV
- UCLA found that nearly 7 and 10 homeowners are stuck in a rebuilding limbo | October, 9, 2025, KNX Radio
- UCLA Analysis Finds Altadena Faces Uneven Wildfire Recovery as Black, Latino, and AAPI Homeowners Struggle to Rebuild | October, 9, 2025, Altadena Now
