When the flames destroyed the House Altadena in Ria Cousineau and damaged the house of her partner, Emily Allen, a horrible situation has given way to what seemed to be an impossible task.
In an effort to find a semi-permanent house during their reconstruction, Cousineau estimated that the couple made a tour of about 10 houses out of four or five days, a house seeing at least 30 families walk in just 10 minutes. Under pressure, they offered to pay $ 250 more per month than the price requested on a pasadena rental.
Although Cousineau said that some potential tenants offered more, they were the first and accepted.
“We didn't know what we were going to do,” said Cousineau, 65. “I feel so lucky.”
The fires that torn apart Altadena And the Pacific Palisades created a crazy rush for a place to live, while thousands of homeless families enter what was already a housing market in crisis.
In the interviews, housing and recovery experts after disaster said that at the long term, the effect of the housing crisis was not certain, but at least in the short term, it is likely to put rapid pressure on rents in areas close to destruction while the displaced people try to stay close to their communities.
“Expelions tend to rise after disassers,” said Andrew Rumbach, a principal researcher of the urban institute's thinking group.
Los Angeles has already dealt with mass destruction.
In 1994, the Northridge earthquake destroyed or seriously damaged from tens of thousands of homes. The deadlines are underway in the palisades and fires of Eaton, but the last estimate is that the conflagants have seriously damaged or destroyed more than 11,100 unifamilial houses and more than 240 multifamilial properties.
We do not know how many units were in these multifamilial structures, but it is unlikely that fires have destroyed as much units as the earthquake.
But in 1994, the San Fernando valley and the city of the rental rate of more than 8%, and households were quickly relocated with the help of federal rents on rents, according to research by Mary Comerio, an expert in resumption after the loss at UC Berkeley.
This time, less than 4% of rentals within the city and the county were vacant in 2023, according to census data, and there was the indignation that a considerable number of owners have ignored the temporary rules of prices for prices due to fire.
Authorities have sworn to dryerBut even if everyone has followed the law, increases up to 10% – like those paid by Cousineau – are authorized. And the experts said that low vacation rates mean that fire refugees will have to move further in their search for housing, which increases rents in a larger area.
Michael Lens, professor of urban planning at the UCLA, said that the situation could be described as a similar to musical chairs: a wave of displaced houses will take the houses available near the fires, bringing up the rents and forcing others to look for in different districts, where the process starts again.
On Saturday, the dynamics could be seen during an open day in Palms – 10 miles by car from the hard -hit Pacific palisades.
Simon Beardmore, the inscribing agent of the three -bedroom single -family rental house, said that he had received more than 100 requests in the days before the projection.
At noon, two women stood outside, waiting for Beardmore to let them enter the house which was registered for $ 10,500 per month.
“Palissadian Brandon?” One asked the other, who replied that yes, she was, and yes, she too lost her house.
In 40 minutes, at least six groups of people had visited the house – all moved from the fire of the Palisades. At least two to see to see additional houses, including one nearby in Culver City.
“It will not only be adjacent districts, but two, three, four districts that will feel these effects,” said Lens.
And some real estate agents notice a change far beyond.
“Everyone in our office has received calls constantly,” said Nyla Patzner, Coachella Valley agent at Desert Sotheby's International Realty.
Michelle King, a real estate agent from Santa Barbara and real estate manager at King & Co., said that luxury lists greater than $ 20,000 per month have the strongest demand.
“These are all the people of the palisades,” said King. “It is again like the pandemic, when everyone fled the cities and bought or rented in quieter areas.”
Rumbach, the expert of the urban institute, said that research has revealed that evictions increased after a disaster, probably because some owners take the opportunity to withdraw tenants for people who will pay higher rents. The rent increases themselves can force people to leave if the cost blows beyond their budget.
But if such a displacement occurs, there are probably limits.
Most destroyed units seem to be unified houses, and experts have declared that generally upward pressure on rent should become more silent as houses Get the two smaller ones and further from the fire areas.
There are a total of 3.7 million houses in Los Angeles, and someone looking for an apartment in a room in the center of Los Angeles, for example, should not notice a big price difference, even if there could be a little more request, said Jose Loya, another urban planning teacher at the UCLA.
“Is still a very, very large place,” he said.
Time should also minimize the effect on rents in areas closer to fires, said experts, as reconstruction relieves the pressure.
Reconstruction could however take years and for the Pacific and Altadena palisades, in particular, there are additional questions.
The prices of houses may fall there if fewer people want to have houses in areas that have just burned, are probably a construction area in the predictable future and could burn again.
Rumbach said the opposite could occur. In other disasters, many people cannot afford or do not want rebuildAnd sell their prizes to others that tend to build more expensive housing.
“We call this a gentrification in the event of a disaster,” said Rumbach.
Juhi Bansal and her husband, Nicolas Gerpe, praised this house in Altadena, destroyed by the fire of Eaton.
(Nicolas Gerpe)
There was a 2012 photo of Juhi Bansal and her husband, Nicolas Gerpe.
(Nicolas Gerpe)
Juhi Bansal and her husband, Nicolas Gerpe, rented in Altadena and it will be the choice of their owner to rebuild the house of a room they called for almost 15 years.
The couple, the two musicians, have other decisions to make. Before the fires, Bansal said that she loved Altadena as a relatively calm oasis in a giant metropolis, but had tried to convince her husband to move somewhere which was cheaper and had less traffic.
Now, after seeing the community come together to help, Bansal said that she had more desire to stay. They just need to find a place to live.
“I was looking at a few rentals on Craigslist,” said Bansal. “They are more expensive than we pay and they are smaller.”
Staff writer Sandhya Kambhampati contributed to this report.
