Wildfire survivors in Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu are increasingly turning their anger toward developers, arguing that investors are using post-fire rules to reshape neighborhoods before residents have had a chance to rebuild. Now, state lawmakers are looking to step in.
More than 1,000 vacant lots in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, or roughly 10 percent of the burned inventory, had changed hands as of June, Politico reported, citing Redfin data. Investors account for about half of those purchases. The trend has intensified fears that outside capital could produce denser, pricier or out-of-scale housing in communities known for their distinctive streetscapes.
That backlash is now moving into Sacramento. State Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez introduced Senate Bill 1090, a piece of legislation that would pause duplexes and 10-unit subdivisions in Altadena during the recovery.
“It will protect Eaton fire survivors and allow them the time they need to rebuild their community without the overpowering influence of predatory developers,” Pérez said of SB 1090.
At the same time, state Sen. Ben Allen — who is currently in the race for state insurance commissioner — is pushing Senate Bill 1229, which would give regulators more oversight of larger rebuilds in Malibu and other coastal areas when the owner is not the original homeowner.
Developers argue the political response misses a central reality of the recovery, which is that California needs more housing and many survivors lack the capital to rebuild.
Across seven lots in Altadena, Sean Beddoe, co-owner of Stone West Homes, said his company wants to build roughly 10 homes averaging 1,750 square feet on each lot. This would be done using SB 1123, which expands the Starter Home Revitalization Act to allow fast-tracked approvals for building up to 10 small homes on vacant single-family lots. The firm has already sued Los Angeles County after planners halted permits for its subdivision projects. If Stone West cannot proceed with its SB 1123 projects, the company said it would build large, expensive single-family homes for sale.
“We can have seven homes or we can have 70 homes. So the question is, which one helps the neighborhood recover from the fire more?” Bleddoe told Politico. “The guy that cleared the lots, the guy that cut down the trees that were burnt, the guy that swept the streets after the fires — all these people made money. That doesn’t mean what they were doing was wrong. We are simply trying to build homes in a city that has a massive housing shortage.”
In Malibu, New Zealand billionaire brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray have spent $111 million on 16 burned lots and plan to build prefabricated luxury homes. Their project has become a symbol of residents’ fears about foreign investors taking advantage of relaxed disaster-rebuilding rules. The Mowbrays’ purchase led Allen to introduce SB 1229.
“The main reason we want to speed up the rebuild process is because of deep sympathy for the folks who lost their homes,” Allen said. “Now you’re seeing developers coming through, trying to buy up some of this property and take advantage of the waived permitting requirements.”
— Chris Malone Méndez
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