To blunt gentrification after a fire in Altadena, nonprofits want to buy a lot of burning

Eshele Williams has always believed that she ended up owning a house she rented near the historic Janes Village in Altadena.

The 1920s cabin was where she brought her son Brayden home from the hospital and had a backyard party there or any anniversary celebration where family and friends wanted to celebrate. Her mother lives in a neighborhood. There are not many three sisters.

When the Eaton fire destroyed the house she called home for nearly 17 years, she received a proposal from her landlord. Williams said she could be burned if she could pay $565,000, all the cash and close within 15 days.

“No one has only $565,000 in cash,” said Williams, a 47-year-old therapist and consultant.

According to real estate agents, more than 80 owners have sold instead of rebuilding as the flames destroyed thousands of homes in January, and many new buyers are developers.

This has raised concern among some community members that developers will usher in a wave of gentrification when building expensive new homes, which will at least partially eliminate architectural, racial and economic diversity, a sign of the small town below the San Gabriel Mountains.

A group of nonprofits are seeking to slam these economic forces.

First, they try to keep residents in Altadena through grants and other support, enabling homeowners to rebuild, especially if they don’t have insurance or are underinsured. If someone eventually wants to sell, these groups want to buy land there to prevent house prices from escalating.

Williams benefited from both efforts. She said she was eligible to buy a $565,000 home, but without cash, let alone more money to rebuild the home.

So when she received the offer from her landlord, Williams turned to nonprofit community housing services in Los Angeles County, where she had been receiving financial help since the fire.

Neighborhood Housing Service stepped in and purchased the burned plot in April and planned to build a new home on site before selling it to Williams at an affordable price.

Lori Gay, CEO of Los Angeles County Neighborhood Housing Services, said she and a nonprofit alliance are seeking to raise more money to buy hundreds of burned properties, build homes on them, and sell them from Altadena to people at an affordable price.

Disaster recovery efforts show that rising home prices are common after fires and hurricanes, as many families hit walls during reconstruction and sold to developers and wealthier families who build more expensive homes.

“You don’t want investors or super high incomes to join and raise prices,” Guy said.

In Altadena, many community members bought their own homes decades ago and will work hard to afford the $1.3 million home value today.

Given the economic differences in the country, there are particular concerns about the spread of Altadena’s long-standing black community, which focuses on the western side of the town, partly due to the history of apartheid and the Red Line.

Black residents had moved away from gentrification before the fire and saw their homes being severely damaged or destroyed at a higher rate than other groups during the fire.

The Williams family is one of them. Not only did Eshele lose her house, but so did her mother and her two sisters who owned the house and tried to find funds for reconstruction.

One potential option is the Pasadena-based Green Housing Foundation, which focuses on providing financial support for displaced black and Hispanic homeowners, citing “historical systemic inequality and lack of access to resources” that will make recovery even harder.

The group also acquired two lots with the idea of ​​reselling them to people who wanted to stay below Altadena.

“It’s just a community that needs to be restored,” said Jasmin Shupper, founder of Greenline, who fears that the influx of developers will dramatically change the “structure of Altadena.”

Some details about nonprofit land acquisition are still to be determined, including how different groups can work together. But Shupper said more funds need to be raised quickly.

“What matters is that we have this long-term vision,” she said. “But if we don’t have fast capital right now, it’s okay because there’s a lot left.”

For Williams, she looks forward to moving backwards to see it as an opportunity to build generations and continue the legacy of her family in Altadena.

Her decision may have had an impact. Williams said she recently met her displaced neighbors in the 1970s and over the years she became a family friend.

The woman told Williams that she suspected she would return after losing the house.

“Probably the only way I’ve reconsidered is if you’re going to be my neighbor,” the woman said.

“Well, I’ll be your neighbor again,” Williams replied.

The woman then burst into tears and said she was “must be back.”