Policy Memo: LA Fires and Impacts on Housing

*This was created in collaboration with YIMBY Law, the enforcement arm of the pro-housing movement.

The ongoing fires in Los Angeles have killed at least 25 people, destroyed thousands of homes and displaced thousands more. While the full toll of the death and destruction is still yet to be tallied, we know that this disaster will exacerbate the ongoing housing shortage in California. Policymakers and local government agencies are already announcing policies intended to support displaced people, but they must also focus on housing supply to avert further catastrophe. Los Angeles, and California more broadly, will need to increase its housing supply, and quickly.

Thousands of people whose homes have been destroyed are now seeking housing in a market that is already experiencing a long-term shortage. This loss of housing supply and increase of housing demand, with many displaced people being of high income, will further bid up the cost of rent. Increases in crowding, homelessness, and displacement are all but inevitable. Policymakers cannot afford to wait to take bold action.

Debris removal and rebuilding will take years. And while California evaluates potential managed retreat policies, the need for low-risk places to ramp up housing production is obvious. For people displaced both by recent catastrophes and the ongoing shortage, California must build new homes.

As we think about rebuilding in damaged areas, we can bring key principles into evaluating risk. New multifamily construction is already more fire-resistant than many older homes, with many requiring sprinkler systems or concrete construction. Existing laws about new construction make new housing generally safer than older buildings. In general, as we think about potential changes, it’s critical to understand what the current policies will mean for potential rebuilding efforts.

We have broken this policy overview into two sections. The first is an overview of new housing laws we think are especially important to understand the lay of the current landscape. The second is policy recommendations from YIMBY Action that we believe will ensure we build a stronger, more resilient California for all.

Existing Laws and Recent Emergency Orders

In much of the damaged areas of Southern California, the destroyed homes have largely been single-family residences and had been zoned for single-family homes for decades. Legislation like SB 9 and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) will allow many single-family lots to be able to re-build with gentle density. But it’s worth noting that Los Angeles Mayor Bass’ recent Emergency Order currently only streamlines new buildings that have the same number of homes as the original building. We hope this will change.

Digging into LA Mayor Bass’s Emergency Order, it does a lot of great things that we wish were applied to building back better, rather than just building back the exact same. It waives certain CEQA reviews, discretionary reviews, and Coastal Development Permits (this includes the Coastal Commission) for eligible reconstruction projects; establishes a special Disaster Recovery Permitting Center; forms a task force to streamline permitting and address roadblocks; expedites permit reviews and inspections, allows temporary housing solutions like RVs or modular homes during rebuilding, and prioritizes temporary certificates of occupancy for near-completion multi-family housing projects.

Similarly, Governor Gavin Newsom signed an Executive Order that focuses on rebuilding without changes. His order suspends CEQA and California Coastal Act permitting (again, including the Coastal Commission) for reconstructing damaged properties, directs state agencies to streamline additional building requirements, and extends price gouging protections on essential rebuilding goods and services in Los Angeles County through January 7, 2026.

In the background of these emergency acts, the ongoing Housing Element process is still plugging along. As part of their Housing Element, Los Angeles has committed to re-zoning major parts of the city, through 19 community plans. These plans are supposed to be completed by the end of February 2025. They were already very unlikely to meet these deadlines for rezoning, even before the fires. While it is unlikely that the legislature will reduce the housing production goals for LA county, given the increased urgency of building housing, we fear that delaying these rezonings will have long-term negative impacts on production.

Currently, the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County are subject to the state streamlining law SB 423 (Wiener), which allows zoning-consistent housing developments with at least 10% affordable units to be approved by-right because that jurisdiction is not on track to meet its housing production goals.

Tragically, large numbers of new homes currently under construction or sites ready for construction are being temporarily paused until site inspections can be done, due to safety concerns. This additional work will put building inspection departments under more strain, and delay much-needed new units. These inspections are certainly necessary, but without additional resources, it seems unlikely that this would not create massive delays in housing production.

Finally, the changing nature of fires complicates traditional notions of risk and where it makes sense to rebuild. While there are fire-risk maps and current laws that are intended to take these into account, many of these maps are outdated and politically skewed.

Policy Recommendations

Our leaders can ease the burden on people directly impacted by the fire, as well as all L.A. County residents, by making it easier to permit and build new housing that is both more fireproof and located in lower-risk areas.

Thousands of survivors will need transitional housing options such as RVs and tiny homes during the rebuilding period. In addition, we need to build back better. The new homes must be built with more fire-proof materials (as required by code), but also more densely in areas of lower fire risk, so we can retreat from high fire areas without displacing people. LA has made some important strides in this direction in the past few years, but now is the time to embrace building the housing that California badly needs.

In short, every city in California should recognize their responsibility to build housing to accommodate displaced people.

Here are policies that increase the pace of housing production:

1. Allow rebuilding at the current maximum allowable density in single-family zoning and with an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). The Mayor has already streamlined rebuilding for fire victims; she should take it a step further and allow people who are already rebuilding to build as densely as state law allows.
2. Establish clear rules regarding transitional housing:
3. 1. Location: Establish an over-the-counter procedure to expedite permits for the location of transitional housing on vacant lots, parking lots and driveways, back and side yards of developed property for the duration of the emergency, but not less than 5 years, regardless of current zoning and development codes.
   2. Duration of transitional housing: People rebuilding their housing may live in transitional housing units until their home is issued a Certificate of Occupancy
   3. Definition of transitional housing: Allow modular / park models to be used for interim housing. This will be the quickest and the least expensive way to help people who lost their homes.
   4. Exempt state licensing: Park Model RVs or Manufactured Homes being used as ADUs or emergency response transitional housing on a lot are to be exempted from the law requiring state licensing of such projects as a park.
3. Increase permitting capacity:
4. 1. Hire additional staff, allow contracted third-party reviewers, or implement programs like San Diego County’s Plan Self-Certification. (As of this posting, LA Councilmember Nithya Raman introduced a motion to do this!)
   2. Increase inspector capacity: Hire additional plan check and inspector supervisors to ensure issues and disputes are resolved quickly.
   3. Implement State law: Expedited Permitting (AB 2234):
   4. 1. 15 days to deem applications complete or not
      2. 30 days to approve or issue corrections
      3. Automatic approval if deadlines are missed.
      4. Mandate the reuse of previously approved plans, even for different parcels, with flexibility for materials and minor layout changes.
      5. Timelines should apply to all utility companies as well
4. Increase new homes in low-risk zones:
5. 1. Prioritize multifamily housing: Focus expedited permitting efforts on multifamily housing – which is naturally more affordable and sustainable – in low-risk areas, particularly projects with affordability components.
   2. Emergency orders for streamlining: Implement emergency order to introduce by-right permitting in low-risk zones.
   3. Use pre-approved plans: Mandate the reuse of previously approved plans, even for different parcels, with flexibility for materials and minor layout changes.
   4. Upzone low-risk zones: Allow R3 in all zones that are currently R1, in low-risk fire zones
   5. Streamline existing proposals: Exempt from CEQA or make ministerial all housing projects already in the pipeline that don’t require a zone change; many of these projects already have plans in process, so they can get built quickly
   6. Density bonuses: Provide density bonuses for properties reconfigured to add additional residential units, encouraging more housing production during the rebuilding process.
5. Targeted Managed Retreat: The changing map of risk will continue to be a challenge. But there is consensus that some areas are at extremely high risk for natural disaster, and policies must be adopted to actively help residents relocate. The highest risk places need to be clearly identified and residents should be encouraged, with buy-outs and other economic incentives, to relocate. Relocating is a massive economic cost, and people will need strong government support to make these changes. Without a serious plan, the costs of relocating will fall heaviest on low-income people left to fend for themselves.
6. Responsibly build higher density housing: Multifamily housing developments are held to a higher fire safety standard than single-family homes. Local governments should clarify that homes destroyed by fire in single-family zoned areas qualify as “vacant” for the purposes of approving a by-right multi-family for sale project of up to 10 units (SB 1123 - Caballero, 2024), which becomes operative on July 1, 2025.
7. Ease financial burdens:
8. 1. Waive taxes: Remove city transfer taxes, including ULA (city of LA) and GS (City of Santa Monica). Also decrease or remove city taxes for building materials for the next 12 months to fight price gouging.
   2. Waive permitting fees: Waive permit fees for rebuilds, and for multifamily housing in lower-risk areas.
8. Make it easier to build: Temporarily remove construction noise ordinances in select high-need construction zones.