Online Panel to Examine Stalled Rental Recovery in Altadena After Eaton Fire

A community panel discussion examining why rental housing recovery has stalled in Altadena nearly 500 days after the Eaton Fire will be held online Thursday, May 21, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., according to event co-hosts.

The session, titled “Who Gets to Come Back? Tenants and the Future of Altadena After the Eaton Fire,” is co-hosted by the Altadena Tenants Union and the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute. It will pair newly released research with a panel of elected officials, community organizers and housing experts, organizers said in a press release.

The discussion centers on a policy brief published Feb. 25 by UCLA LPPI, which found that about 74% of identified rental units within the Eaton Fire perimeter remain on properties with no public record of rebuilding permits, sales or active listings. The institute reported that more than 1,500 rental units — roughly 70% of Altadena’s identified rental stock — were located within the fire perimeter, and that 927 units were on properties where buildings sustained severe structural damage.

Altadena, an unincorporated community of Los Angeles County adjacent to Pasadena, also had at least 792 recorded rent-stabilized units before the fire, representing more than one-third of its rental market, according to the UCLA brief.

The Eaton Fire began Jan. 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon. It destroyed 9,418 structures, damaged 1,073 more and killed at least 19 people, according to Cal Fire.

Confirmed panelists include state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena), who was elected to the 25th Senate District in November 2024 and represents Pasadena, Altadena, and 19 other communities; Gabriella Carmona, senior research analyst at UCLA LPPI and lead author of the rental housing brief; Leora Mosman, co-founder of the Altadena Tenants Union; Shannon Larsuel, identified by event organizers as board president of the Altadena Community Land Trust and Altadena organizing lead at Essie Justice Group; and Palin Ngaotheppitak, executive director of Beacon Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer that the organizers said has operated in the greater Pasadena and Altadena area since 1996.

Dr. Katie Clark, co-founder of the Altadena Tenants Union and an Altadena resident whose home was destroyed in the fire, will moderate. Clark currently serves as 2025 secretary of the Altadena Library District Board of Trustees and previously served as board president from 2019 to 2021.

In a statement accompanying the Feb. 25 release of the UCLA brief, Clark said displaced renters have been left behind in the recovery. “Since the fire, many of our Altadena neighbors have been scattered across the Los Angeles region: folks are living in their cars, piecing together temporary housing, moving dozens of times, or doubling up with family,” Clark said. “Without properties to rebuild or control over landlord decisions, we tenants have largely remained invisible in this recovery.”

Carmona, also in a statement on the brief, said rent stabilization had played a significant role in Altadena’s affordability. “Rent stabilization in Altadena had strong affordability benefits, particularly for family-size units,” Carmona said. “The fire appears to have removed many of these naturally affordable units from the market and without targeted intervention, displaced tenants face an uphill battle to return.”

Sen. Pérez has introduced several pieces of Eaton Fire-related legislation, according to her office, including SB 658, which would give public agencies and mission-driven nonprofits — including community land trusts — priority to purchase properties in the Eaton and Palisades fire areas. “To prevent displacement and protect housing, we need bold legislation that keeps properties within the community rather than in the hands of outside investors who may not prioritize local needs,” Pérez said in a February statement on the bill.

Ngaotheppitak’s organization received a $5.83 million grant from the Altadena Builds Back Foundation in November 2025 to rebuild 14 affordable rental units on a Pine Street lot in West Altadena, according to LAist. “We need to center renters because I think that they are often not included in the conversation,” Ngaotheppitak said in a November interview with LAist.

The event will provide simultaneous Spanish translation, according to the press release. Registration is required and is available via the Zoom webinar link provided by the organizers at us02web.zoom.us.

The UCLA LPPI brief, titled “Rebuilding for Whom?,” is the second in a four-part series examining post-fire recovery in Altadena. It was authored by Carmona, Vinit Mukhija, Sofia Barajas, Mariah Bonilla, Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, Xalma Palomino, and Ana Lua Martel.