Sunday, September 13, 2026

Displaced Altadena Church to Convene Rebuilding Funders Sunday, Says Partners Will Launch Recovery Platform

Organizers say four funding entities will work on site with an estimated 200 underinsured homeowners and that recovery funding has been allocated for more than 100 residences

A displaced Altadena church and its rebuilding partners are set to launch a centralized recovery platform Sunday and connect underinsured Eaton Fire homeowners with funding and legal help, less than three weeks before a disaster case-management program that survivor advocates say serves more than 1,500 people is scheduled to shut down.

LIFT International Church, an Altadena congregation displaced by the January 2025 Eaton Fire, is hosting the event, which organizers call “Come Back Home.”

The planned two-hour press conference and community gathering is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1757 N. Lake Ave., near the Pasadena-Altadena boundary.

Organizers say the initiative targets the financial, administrative and technical barriers that continue to keep Eaton Fire households from rebuilding. Four funding entities are expected to work on site with at least 200 underinsured homeowners. Disaster-recovery funding has reportedly been allocated for more than 100 residences. More than 160 families previously supported by LIFT were invited, organizers said.

Organizers also say partner groups will launch a centralized platform linking survivors to state and municipal resources and grants that they now must track across multiple agencies and organizations.

Advertised services include gap-assistance grants, guidance on legal filing deadlines, consultations and pro bono referrals through the Altadena CDC’s ALLY platform, which is separate from the new centralized platform.

The event comes as the federally funded Disaster Case Management Program was scheduled to end Sept. 30. The state has said the closure is the result of FEMA not providing required funding. One local coalition said roughly 109 positions and more than 1,500 survivor case-management relationships are at risk.

Rebuilding in Altadena remains uneven. County data reported Sept. 8 showed that more than 2,300 of 5,858 Altadena parcels where homes were destroyed — about 40% — had no rebuilding application on file. The same data showed 1,535 single-family homes under construction and 140 residential parcels with a completed single-family home or accessory dwelling unit.

The press conference portion is expected to address recovery and advocacy. Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivor’s Network — formerly the Eaton Fire Survivors Network, which says it now serves more than 10,000 fire survivors and allies — is scheduled to discuss what survivor groups describe as legislative gains.

The gathering follows federal disaster-tax legislation signed Sept. 11. President Donald Trump signed H.R. 5366, the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act, which codifies and extends an exclusion from gross income for qualifying wildfire-relief payments and addresses disaster casualty-loss rules. How the law applies to any individual settlement is a question for tax advisers.

Several state measures have passed the Legislature but are not yet law. AB 1795, the Smoke Damage Recovery Act, passed and was awaiting the governor as of Sept. 1, according to a California Department of Insurance release. Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, D-Pasadena, said in an official release that SB 742, SB 877, SB 878, SB 1090, SB 1098 and other measures had reached Gov. Gavin Newsom by Sept. 1. The governor had until Sept. 30 to sign or veto them.

SB 492 did not pass. The measure, authored by Sen. Josh Becker, was introduced in February 2025 as a youth-housing bond act, and the Senate passed that earlier version 30-9 on Jan. 27. It was amended Aug. 29 into a wildfire package and ordered to third reading Aug. 30. The Assembly did not vote on the final text during a Sept. 1 voting window that followed the ordinary Aug. 31 passage deadline, and the bill died without reaching the governor.

Announced participants in Sunday’s gathering include Every Fire Survivor’s Network, Samaritan’s Purse, Hope Crisis Response Network, Mennonite Disaster Service, HPP Cares and San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity.

Pastor Anthony McFarland, an announced co-host who lost his home in the fire, according to organizers, founded the church with Micheline McFarland in 2000, when it was known as Abundant Harvest Christian Center, LIFT says. The church says it opened a crisis center after the fire providing food, clothing, toiletries and counseling.

The cause of the fire has not been finally adjudicated.