The Palisades and Eaton fires in January 2025 destroyed about 13,000 homes. Despite being one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history, according to Vox, only seven homes have been rebuilt.

With Los Angeles already facing a tight rental housing market and California experiencing a statewide housing shortage, the fires created significant political pressure to rebuild as quickly as possible.

Despite political backing, a year later, only about 900 homes are under construction.

Minjee Kim, an assistant professor of urban planning, claims that the system is ill-equipped for recovery in this Vox article. “The system structurally is not built for rebuilding and recovery,” Kim said. “You just need a whole different animal to enable comprehensive reconstruction.”

The rebuilding process requires multiple permits, which take time and money to obtain. Kim said regulatory hurdles are not caused by any single agency. “When you zoom into regulation as an issue, it’s not individual departments that are delaying the process,” she said. “It’s more like the entirety of the network of reviews that needs to happen that is an impediment to a faster recovery.”