FEMA’s Inaction on Leasing Apartments for L.A. Fire Survivors

Introduction to the Crisis

Since her Altadena rental home burned down in January’s Eaton fire, Tamara Johnson has crisscrossed Southern California looking for a place to live. She started in San Bernardino, where she stayed with a friend, and continued to Oceanside, where an Airbnb voucher let her remain a week. She’s driven from Long Beach to Azusa searching for apartments, spending her days scanning listings for those that would accept her Federal Emergency Management Agency housing assistance and calling 211 for help. Most nights, she’s slept in her van. The worst came when a truck smashed into the back of her vehicle one morning as she was pulling into a fast food parking lot. Johnson got a rental car and then slept in that.

The Struggle for Housing

“I’m going through all this,” said Johnson, 62. “And I just came through a disaster.”
Brenda Sharpe walks back to her room at Hotel Le Reve, the sixth place she and her three younger children have lived since January’s fires. With her struggles, Johnson was surprised to learn that there could have been another path to long-term housing. After major wildfires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and other cataclysmic events, FEMA often directly rents apartments for disaster survivors who cannot find somewhere on their own. Yet the agency has not implemented the program in Los Angeles.

The Direct Lease Program

Johnson said relying on FEMA for a home would have put her on a path to recovery rather than living in an “emergency mode” where she’s just trying to make it through each day. “It would stabilize you a lot faster,” she said. Federal and state emergency officials said that they have not started the program, known as Direct Lease, because it’s not needed. Their analysis of available apartments in L.A. County shows more than 5,600 listed at prices within the limits of FEMA reimbursements. “The data does not support a rental shortage,” said Monica Vargas, spokesperson for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Contrasting Views

This stance baffles national and local disaster relief advocates who contend that the public agencies are overlooking precedents across the country and realities on the ground. Heavenly Hughes, co-founder of Altadena nonprofit My Tribe Rise, said she believes there are potentially thousands of Eaton fire survivors with insecure housing like Johnson, including those doubling up with relatives, sleeping on couches or packing into hotel rooms. Organizations like hers, she said, are straining to keep up with the demand. “If these agencies are set up to show compassion and care, to have these people have some type of normalcy, the first part would be helping people find housing,” Hughes said. “It’s sad there has to be this much talking when they should know we need it.”

The Need for Direct Lease

After disasters, FEMA’s primary housing assistance comes through subsidies that survivors can use to find their own apartments. To supplement that, the agency frequently looks to lease properties not typically available for long-term stays, such as corporate and vacation rentals, where it can house people otherwise unable to find housing directly with rent covered for up to 18 months. In Maui, more than 1,100 households moved into apartments and condominiums through the FEMA program after that community’s devastating 2023 wildfires. Direct Lease provides a necessary backstop for people suddenly in need, said Noah Patton, manager of disaster recovery at D.C.-based nonprofit National Low Income Housing Coalition. “If they can’t find a landlord that’s willing to take the money that FEMA is paying, they’re out of luck,” Patton said. “The idea is to have a list of eligible properties you could give to a disaster survivor and say, ‘Just go here.’”

Local Context and Challenges

Brenda Sharpe tries to call the American Red Cross to help coordinate her next move outside Hotel Le Reve. FEMA denied her application for rental assistance. L.A.’s fires typically would qualify for such relief, Patton said. Between the Palisades and Eaton fires, nearly 13,000 homes were destroyed, an amount equivalent to more than half of L.A. County’s annual housing production. Before January, Los Angeles had a notoriously punishing rental market. The county’s homeless population stood at 75,000, and nearly 600,000 families paid more than half their income on housing costs. Immediately after the fires, widespread reports of rental price gouging spread across the region with the prices of some listings doubling overnight.

Response from Agencies

The public agencies’ response “paints a pretty rosy picture of the rental market absorbing a significant amount of fire survivors,” Patton said. “Based on the things that I know, this doesn’t really make any sense,” he said. In late January, FEMA formally solicited interest from L.A. landlords to make buildings available for the Direct Lease program. Soon after, the effort stalled. FEMA spokesperson Brandi Richard Thompson said that while the agency understands that individual survivors are facing hardships, state and federal data show rental housing is accessible. Evidence from disaster-affected households supports that view, she said.

Advocates’ Concerns

Advocates said the state and federal position minimizes the problems fire survivors, especially those in Altadena, are dealing with. Hughes noted that the agencies’ estimate of available rentals spans the entire county. Altadena residents, she said, shouldn’t be forced to move 50 miles away to the Antelope Valley, for instance, when FEMA could potentially offer closer options. Hughes said the decision also ignores the local context in Altadena, a longtime haven for Black residents where many elderly homeowners don’t meet private landlords’ income or rental history requirements. That leaves them at further disadvantage in a tough market, she said.

Personal Stories of Struggle

Brenda Sharpe loads her car with items that she needs to store. She and her children have bounced between six hotels and Airbnbs. In the Pasadena hotel where they’re now staying, Sharpe has lined up air mattresses between the room’s two double beds so everyone has their own place to sleep. A nonprofit covered the hotel’s $1,900 cost in April. For May, she has to come up with the money herself. The thought of finding something she can afford on the open market seems impossibly daunting — even harder while having to process the loss her family has experienced. Sharpe’s parents’ house burned down, and her grandmother, whom police officers carried out of her home with flames bearing down, died over the weekend. “We need somewhere to live,” Sharpe said. “Trying to find affordable housing has been the problem. Pasadena rent is astronomically high.”

Call for Action

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park), who represents Altadena, said locating long-term housing has been the most consistent concern she’s heard from her constituents. Many have told her that, like Johnson and Sharpe, they’ve had to move multiple times and still are unable to settle. Chu said she planned to press CalOES and FEMA for more details on why the agencies believed that the Direct Lease program wasn’t needed. “I’m just stunned at the determination that there’s enough housing at the parameters given costwise,” Chu said.

Conclusion

The decision not to implement the Direct Lease program in Los Angeles following the devastating fires has left many survivors struggling to find secure and affordable housing. Despite the claims from federal and state emergency officials that there is sufficient housing available, advocates and those directly affected paint a different picture. They highlight the need for a more compassionate and realistic approach to housing assistance, one that acknowledges the complexities of the local rental market and the specific challenges faced by communities like Altadena. As the situation continues to unfold, it remains to be seen whether the authorities will reassess their stance and provide the necessary support to those who have lost so much.

FAQs

1. What is the Direct Lease program?

   • The Direct Lease program is a FEMA initiative that directly rents apartments for disaster survivors who cannot find housing on their own. It provides a necessary backstop for people suddenly in need by leasing properties not typically available for long-term stays.

2. Why hasn’t FEMA implemented the Direct Lease program in Los Angeles?

   • According to federal and state emergency officials, the program is not needed because there are more than 5,600 apartments listed in L.A. County at prices within the limits of FEMA reimbursements, indicating no rental shortage.

3. What do advocates say about the situation?

   • Advocates argue that the agencies are overlooking the realities on the ground and precedents across the country. They believe there are potentially thousands of fire survivors with insecure housing and that organizations are straining to keep up with the demand.

4. What are the personal experiences of fire survivors like?

   • Survivors like Tamara Johnson and Brenda Sharpe have been forced to live in emergency mode, sleeping in vans, bouncing between hotels and Airbnbs, and facing significant challenges in finding affordable housing due to the high costs of rent in areas like Pasadena.
5. What actions are being taken or proposed?
   • U.S. Rep. Judy Chu plans to press for more details on why the Direct Lease program wasn’t deemed necessary. There’s also a call for the state to reassess its stance on the program, considering the specific challenges faced by communities like Altadena and the need for more compassionate and realistic housing assistance solutions.