Written by Rich McKay and Jonathan Allen
(Reuters) – Thousands of Angelenos who lost their homes in some of the most devastating wildfires in California history are finding themselves in fierce competition with each other for an affordable place to live in Los Angeles' post-disaster housing market.
The fires had killed at least 27 people as of Friday and destroyed more than 10,000 structures in the residential areas of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. In the wake of the fires, rents have soared and uncertainty over insurance settlements has left some displaced people in limbo.
In interviews this week, Angelenos described the agony of being exiled from their beloved neighborhoods and the daunting task of figuring out what comes next for them and their families. Here are some of their stories:
'Absolutely 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 fleeing their home in Altadena a week ago. Their ranch-style home of six years near the Angeles National Forest was completely destroyed in Eaton (NYSE:) Fire.
“We thank God that we are safe, but we do not know what the next step is,” he said. “We are both lucky, our jobs are still here. I know people who lost their livelihoods and had to start over. We are still working.”
Adolph and his wife, Christine, are lifelong Angelenos and have no plans to move from the area permanently “unless they're kicking and screaming,” he said.
For now, the family has been content to stay with friends, but they know there's a lot more to ask for in the long run. They were already looking for apartments to rent.
“We have two kids and older dogs, and we can't move from hotel rooms to Airbnbs,” he said. “We need something stable for the kids.”
When they went to view the rental, there were already six families lined up in front of them.
“It's absolutely crazy,” Adolf said. “It's going crazy.”
Although his home was insured, he is concerned that rising construction costs and new insurance rates could cause his prices to be higher than his neighborhood.
“So it's up in the air if we can actually rebuild,” he said. He has no idea how long it will take the county to clear the debris before it can begin. “We would really like to stay, but who knows, we don't know.”
“musical chairs”
On a GoFundMe page set up by Kate Alexandria, she includes a photo of the fire that gutted her rental apartment in Altadena, and says her credit cards have been maxed out. People have donated more than $3,000 as of Friday.
Alexandria, a 27-year-old grant writer, moved to Los Angeles three years ago from Grass Valley, a small city north of Sacramento, after becoming concerned about devastating wildfires nearby.
She was renting what she described as an illegally converted apartment in Altadena above garages filled with fuel, paint and other fire accelerators. For a time, she split the $2,000 monthly rent, a bargain in Los Angeles, with her roommate.
After the fire, the landlord returned January's rent, but has yet to receive the $2,000 deposit she says she desperately needs.
Alexandria says she takes about 40 different medications to control the painful symptoms of the disability, but the fire destroyed most of the medications. Replacing prescriptions will cost hundreds of dollars.
Her cat is staying at a friend's house in nearby Pasadena that is undergoing renovation, while she crashes at a friend's mother's house in Van Nuys, about 20 miles west of Altadena, until Saturday, when the mother returns from a trip. Most days she moves between the two places.
“It's going to be musical chairs for a while,” she said. FEMA agreed to get her an initial payment of $770, which isn't a lot in an expensive city like Los Angeles. She's trying to get approved for a disaster credit from Airbnb.org, which will save her at least a few days in rent.
California prohibits raising prices more than 10% in the event of a declared disaster, yet rents have risen despite this. As Alexandria browsed apartment listings, places that were listed at $2,000 a month in January were now selling for more than $3,000, she said.
She is dismayed by what she calls the “stupidity” of landlords, but dreams of returning to her beloved neighborhood.
“It's the strangest and most wonderful place in Los Angeles,” she said.
“Looks like a ghost town”
“I feel like where you live is part of your identity,” said Daisy Suarez Giles, who lost the four-bedroom Altadena home she bought in 2021 and the citrus and avocado tree garden she planted on the property. “I feel like part of who we are is gone.”
She and her husband, Keith Giles, got a hotel room in downtown Los Angeles near their spa for about $170 a night, a kind of employee discount because the hotel uses their own masseuses.
On Friday, they moved into a free rental apartment donated by Airbnb for 10 days. And then they don't know where they will end up.
The couple sent their two young sons to relatives in Florida, so that some stability could be restored.
She and her husband still have to pay the mortgage every month on their damaged home, which they still owe $850,000 on. Mortgage payments were now more difficult because they depended in part on the rent paid by the tenant living in a studio at the back of the house. And their spa business suddenly became slow.
“We were struggling and now with the fire it feels like a ghost town,” she said. “Nobody's mentality now is 'spa.'
She's waiting to hear from the insurance company how much of her expenses it will reimburse over the next 12 months. Before starting their rental search in earnest, they need to know their budget.
They've set up some sensors, but the boys' new Christmas puppy proves an easy reason for landlords to evict them: “No pets.”
“Lucky and blessed”
Kathleen McCroskey closed on her two-story, four-bedroom house on the day of the 1994 earthquakes, leaving it last week before the Palisades Fire consumed it.
She and her husband, Mike, grew up just a few miles from Palisades and met in first grade. They decided to stay in the neighborhood where they raised their four children.
The family now resides at her sister-in-law's house near UCLA.
“It's priceless to be with family and be miles away from where we lost our home,” McCroskey said. “On the other hand, we are putting a burden on them.”
Navigating the Los Angeles market has been a shock. A tip from her husband's friend who works in real estate about an unlisted rental house in Santa Barbara led to an early morning viewing of the property, which she said felt like a “drug deal.”
They know they have a relatively generous budget, because a few months ago her husband decided to increase her fire insurance coverage after helping an elderly woman who was struggling to file claims after losing her home in a 2018 fire in Malibu.
“We are so lucky and blessed,” she said.
They hope to move up the coast to Santa Barbara in February, where they will begin contemplating the years-long process of building a new home on their property in Palisades.
“We never dreamed of rebuilding in our 70s,” she said.
