Tuesday, January 28, 2025

LA Supervisors Approve $32 Million Fire Recovery Fund, Additional Efforts

CITY NEWS SERVICE

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a proposal Tuesday to create a Fire Recovery Fund to provide direct cash aid to wildfire victims, with an initial bankroll of $32.2 million.

The motion calls for the county to initially allocate the $32.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars, with the departments of Economic Opportunity and Consumer and Business Affairs directed to report back in a week with an implementation update, including details on a process for people to apply for relief funds.

The county CEO was asked to find additional county funding to be re-purposed for fire recovery.

The fund will provide “direct cash aid to homeowners, renters, business owners, workers, and other community members impacted by the fire events,” according to the motion by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Kathryn Barger. “The fund will provide immediate, temporary assistance to impacted residents until longer term state and federal recovery resources become available.”

The wind-driven Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Kenneth and Hughes fires that erupted starting Jan. 7 have destroyed more than 14,000 structures and displaced thousands of residents and business owners.

The board also approved a related motion directing all county departments to take expedited recovery actions. The motion identifies dozens of emergency actions aimed at assisting recovery efforts, including expedited repair of county roads, bridges and other infrastructure destroyed in the fires and authorizing the county CEO to seek and accept a wide array of grants any available state, federal or local sources, including private entities to help fund repair and recovery projects.

The motion also includes the following steps:

• outreach to fire victims about the importance of filing misfortune and calamity claims, and directing the assessor to initiate reassessments regardless of such claims being filed;
• authorizing the Department of Public Works to enter non-competitive contracts for emergency repair and renovation projects, debris removal and other efforts, potentially amounting to as much as $1.25 billion;
• directing Parks and Recreation officials to carry out emergency protective measures;
• creating online resources for fire victims;
• assessing agricultural produce for contamination.

In an amendment, Barger asked the auditor-controller to report back to the board in 30 days with a process to track the approved activities and the utilization of existing resources.

Barger stressed the need for local involvement and equity in rebuilding.

“Today, Altadena is a community where 18% of the population is Black, double the county average and where Latino families and elderly residents have built their lives that span generations,” she said. “We must protect generational home ownership opportunities, economic mobility and the fabric of a community that has already endured more than its fair share of hardship.”

Horvath said the motion was the collective work of county departments that were all focused on providing displaced residents and business owners an equitable opportunity at a resilient rebuilding process.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell spoke up on the need for continued monitoring on expedited recovery funds spent, urging that speed should not come at the potential cost of misuse.

Some residents and community organizations that offered public comment criticized the temporary suspension on building standard codes and state laws. They urged the board to reconsider laws that they said would restrict sustainable and equitable rebuilding.

Scott Epstein from Abundant Housing LA said many of the proposed suspensions of housing laws would make it challenging for residents to return to fire-impacted areas.

Michael Schneider from Streets For All said the item would “suspend more than six state laws. If adopted, it would override every important progressive housing and land-use policy passed in the last five years.”

He argued that the laws were designed to make housing more affordable and suspending them would go against the main goal of helping displaced residents.