The rebuilding of rental housing in Altadena following last year’s destructive Eaton Fire has been slow, threatening the ability of tenants and lower-income residents to return to the community, a University of California, Los Angeles, study released Wednesday shows.
Nearly three-quarters of the 1,500 rental units affected by the January 2025 fire are on properties where owners have not begun the rebuilding process by either filing for permits or listing the lot for sale, according to research from UCLA’s Latino Policy & Politics Institute. That pace is far behind activity by single-family homeowners, the study found.
Without construction or government incentives, renters may not be able to find ways to return to Altadena, said Gabriella Carmona, senior research analyst with the UCLA institute and co-author of the report.
“It’s going to be very difficult for a lot of these tenants who were at the margins to find something in Altadena if we aren’t prioritizing that now,” Carmona said.
