Altadena Groups to Gather in Support of SB 1090 Ahead of July 1 Assembly Hearing

A coalition of Altadena community organizations, fire survivors and local officials plans to gather Monday at a fire-destroyed property to voice support for Senate Bill 1090, the “Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands” Act, days before a California Assembly committee is scheduled to take up the measure, according to the community group Beautiful Altadena.

The press 9 a.m. conference is intended to show what organizers describe as broad community support for the bill ahead of an Assembly hearing scheduled for Wednesday, July 1. SB 1090, authored by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena), would place a moratorium within Altadena on two state housing-density laws — SB 9 and SB 1123 — as the unincorporated community continues to rebuild from the January 2025 Eaton Fire.

SB 9, signed in 2021, allows owners in single-family neighborhoods to split lots and build duplexes, while SB 1123, which took effect in July 2025, permits the construction of up to 10 homes on qualifying vacant single-family-zoned lots.

An earlier version of SB 1090 focused on barring large investors — defined as those owning 75 or more single-family properties — from making unsolicited offers to buy property in declared wildfire disaster areas.

The bill is co-authored by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena) and sponsored by Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose Fifth District includes unincorporated Altadena.

Pérez has said the density laws were written for ordinary urban development rather than disaster recovery.

“While I have supported many policies to increase housing supply in California, these laws were intended for urban infill, not for a community that has suffered the level of disaster experienced in Altadena,” she said in a statement announcing the amended bill.

Supporters of 1090 point to investor activity in the fire zone; Pérez has cited a Strategic Actions for a Just Economy report finding that investors purchased about 49% of Altadena-area properties sold between February and July 2025.

Beautiful Altadena characterized the gathering as evidence of broad agreement among groups that have not always aligned on housing policy, including homeowners, renters, affordable-housing advocates, community land trusts, fire survivors and neighborhood leaders. The group said the amended bill is meant to protect survivor-led recovery while preserving pathways for affordable and accessible housing, adding: “These are not competing priorities; they are complementary goals.”

Barger, a sponsor of the bill, said in the advisory that she was “proud to sponsor this legislation and stand alongside Senator Sasha Renée Pérez in advancing this critical effort.” She described the push as a “grassroots movement, led by fire survivors themselves,” that has drawn attention to the threat of disaster-driven displacement.

Altadena Recovery Watch, a community group backing the bill, said in the advisory that the measure is “a short pause for survivors to rebuild, while the amendment protects a pathway for 100% affordable housing so renters and working families can come home too.” The Altadena Tenants Union said in the advisory, “Without the protections of SB 1090, our renter and tenant families will be pushed even further away from a pathway back home.”

SB 1090 has drawn opposition. SB 9 and SB 1123 were enacted to expand housing production statewide, according to their authors, and housing-supply advocates have generally opposed local exemptions from those laws. Beautiful Altadena has said the bill faces opposition from what it called “well-funded state and county YIMBY organizations from outside of Altadena.” The advisory lists only supporters of the bill among the event’s scheduled participants.

The bill has passed the state Senate. A hearing before the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee that had been scheduled for June 24 was postponed by the committee.

The advisory says the July 1 hearings will be before the Assembly Housing Committee and an “Assembly General Committee”; the bill is set to be heard July 1 by the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee and the Assembly Local Government Committee. Although the measure is described as a five-year moratorium, the bill text provides that its protections apply to development applications submitted on or after Jan. 1, 2027, and before Jan. 7, 2030, a roughly three-year window; Pérez has said adding urgency language could move up the start date if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the bill.

The Assembly is scheduled to consider SB 1090 on July 1. Organizers say survivors and community representatives will be in Sacramento that day to testify.