A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned this morning, April 16, to be followed by a community block party welcoming residents Ana Robles and Carolyn Smith back to their block.
Both women lost their homes when the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena on Jan. 7, 2025.
The modular accessory dwelling units were provided at no cost through the Dena Forward Alliance, a collaborative of five nonprofit organizations: Shared Harvest Foundation, the SoLa Foundation, MODEL/Z, the Southern California chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SoCal NOMA), and the Pasadena-based Greenline Housing Foundation.
The alliance was formed to help displaced families return to their properties while their permanent homes are rebuilt.
The two households were the first recipients in the program to be assigned a Shared Harvest Disaster Care Manager. One household includes a senior resident living with a family member with a disability. The other is headed by a single mother and schoolteacher who has been working through the financial and logistical hurdles of rebuilding. Before the program connected them with resources, the press release stated, the two families were relying primarily on each other for information.
“This collaborative is the first to deliver on the promise to grant no-cost housing for impacted families,” said Dr. NanaEfua Afoh-Manin, an emergency physician and founder of Shared Harvest Foundation. “We’ve learned that rebuilding after a disaster is not just a construction challenge — it’s a trust challenge. Families have to trust that organizations are going to do what they say and not exploit their loss.”
The steel-frame ADUs were built off-site at a MODEL/Z factory in Watts and delivered to the Altadena properties by crane before being installed. MODEL/Z is affiliated with the SoLa Foundation, the nonprofit arm of affordable housing developer SoLa Impact. The units were described in the press release as designed to serve as temporary housing while the families’ permanent residences are reconstructed and could later be converted to rental units or additional family housing.
Sherri Francois, the executive director of the SoLa Foundation, said in the press release that the partnership with Shared Harvest had been essential to the project’s success.
“We learned quickly that it takes trusted, specialized partners to successfully secure stable interim housing at no cost to families and get them back home,” Francois said.
Each organization in the alliance contributed a distinct role, according to a press release. Shared Harvest Foundation provided care coordination and case management, including mental health resources and subgrants for recovery gaps. SoLa Foundation and MODEL/Z supplied the modular units and managed the construction. SoCal NOMA contributed architectural expertise. Greenline Housing Foundation, a Pasadena-based nonprofit focused on expanding homeownership access for communities of color, guided the families through screening and application processes and coordinated subsidies to offset construction-related costs.
Matthew Trotter, president of SoCal NOMA, said in the press release that the families needed more than construction help. “Families need trusted guidance,” Trotter said. “Shared Harvest meets them where they are and ensures they have access to the right resources and experts when they’re ready.”
Robles, one of the two residents, said that the support she received went beyond housing.
“After the fires, the decisions and obstacles felt overwhelming,” Robles said. “Shared Harvest reassured me that I wasn’t alone. They helped me first get access to counseling, then get organized, helped resolve a difficult dispute with my neighbor, and understand the benefits of the opportunity to move into stable temporary housing.”
Financial support for the project came from multiple sources. The press release identified the SoLa Foundation’s capital partners as Better Angels, JFEDLA, the Los Angeles County Legislative Delegation led by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (CA-61), the California Fire Foundation, and others. Shared Harvest Foundation’s grant partners for this project include Direct Relief and the Centene Foundation.
The Dena Forward Alliance, which takes its name from a reference to Altadena, describes itself on its website as a collective impact network inspired by the vision of Afrofuturist author and Altadena native Octavia Butler. The alliance is sponsored by Shared Harvest Foundation, which lists an office at 251 S. Lake Ave. in Pasadena and states it has worked with more than 200 families on disaster recovery since the fire.
The Eaton Fire began on the evening of Jan. 7, 2025, in Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. Driven by powerful Santa Ana winds, it swept into Altadena and surrounding foothill communities. The fire burned more than 14,000 acres before it was fully contained on Jan. 31, 2025. The devastation was concentrated in Altadena, where more than 9,400 structures were destroyed, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire displaced tens of thousands of residents, many of whom remain in temporary housing more than 15 months later.
The Thursday ceremony took place at a private residence. The location was not publicly disclosed; attendees were required to RSVP for the address.
Contact: Alex Zarchy, 310-702-3392
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