Resilience and rebuilding: LA’s uncertain housing future 

As tens of thousands of residents across the greater Los Angeles area remain displaced by the devastating Eaton and Palisades wildfires — which have now wiped out 40,000 acres and more than 10,000 homes and other structures — discussion is already underway about rebuilding and what that would look like. 

How do we rebuild — and should we?

Before discussing how to rebuild, government leaders and the real estate industry may need to consider an uncomfortable question: Should we rebuild in areas that may continue to be at risk of future disasters?

"These communities have to be rebuilt," said U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, whose district includes the Altadena and Pasadena areas, when asked this very question by Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan last weekend. "People love these areas, and we need to make sure that there are resources for them to rebuild their homes."

But Seydina Fall, a senior finance lecturer at Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business, would argue otherwise.

"There are areas of the U.S. where we should not rebuild," Fall told Real Estate News. "We need to allow nature to regenerate and rejuvenate the environment."

And if rebuilding is part of the conversation, Fall argues that it's critical to "bring scientists to the table" who will help us "understand and measure the effect of the built environment on our planet," because past actions have contributed to the disasters communities are facing today. 

"I mean, to me, it's just very obvious what's happening — it's nature rebelling against us. We maxed out the credit card."

Rebuilding will happen, so it must be done right

Resilience — in the sense of adaptation and reducing vulnerability to disasters — is something the Urban Land Institute's Lindsay Brugger thinks a lot about. As VP of resilience for the organization, Brugger seeks to understand the root causes of climate disasters and how the built environment can either outright avoid or better weather these incidents. 

Even if the science suggests rebuilding is unwise, Los Angeles is a massive force in California's economy, and many communities will be rebuilt. Given that reality, Brugger says efforts should be focused on mitigating risk.

"Building to a building code that includes wildfire mitigation measures will be number one," she told Real Estate News. She also would advise homeowners who were not affected by this wave of wildfires to look into retrofits and upgrades that would give their homes a better chance of surviving future fires, because they might be even worse. 

"I think any prudent homeowner, buyer or investor would take a look at the past climate risk and recognize that that's probably not the most extreme that will come in the future, and design and build their buildings accordingly," Brugger said.

Fall echoed that sentiment, encouraging people to take a long view that's guided by climate trends. "This should not be seen as an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure if we're going to do it the same way that we've done it before," she said. 

Encouraging resilience, increasing awareness

The creation of state or local grants to help enhance the resilience of existing homes and lender rate discounts are just a couple of solutions Brugger believes could help. 

But generally speaking, the risks of climate change and frequency of natural disasters are things agents and buyers should be more aware of when shopping for homes, Brugger suggests. Major home search portals like Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com have begun to include climate risks in home listings but agents themselves can also be a resource.

"Unfortunately, climate change is not a future problem anymore," Brugger explained. "I think real estate agents are going to find that more and more of their buyers are attuned to climate risk."