Los Angeles fires expose flawed housing policies

Tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles lost their homes to the devastating fires that raged in early January.

- John Raphling and Sonja Verdugo

The Eaton and Palisades fires reveal how vulnerable and interdependent we all are. The people of Los Angeles have risen to support their newly displaced neighbors, while state and local elected officials took immediate steps and promised funding and resources to help rebuild devastated communities and atend to immediate needs. This high-speed, dramatic destruction of homes is worsening a housing shortage that has been building in the region for years. Before the fires, Los Angeles already had a documented shorfall of 500,000 affordable housing units. About 75,000 people in Los Angeles County officially count as unhoused, while hundreds of thousands more live in overcrowded apartments, pay more than they can afford in rent or bounce between temporary situations in hotels or on friends’ couches.