We’re all freaking out.

For mobile home residents, few answers after Palisades fire

There has been a sobering awareness in the WhatsApp group chat where Clove Galilee has kept up with her neighbors since the Palisades fire destroyed their homes.

It’s the realization that, one month after the crisis, “life has gone on for most people,” said Galilee, who lived with her wife in the Tahitian Terrace mobile home park in Pacific Palisades. But not for them.

“It’s like a death in a family,” Galilee said. “Everyone’s like, ‘Oh, can I help you?’ for the first month. And then? Time goes on. And all of these people are still going to be struggling.”

For people who lived in Tahitian Terrace and the adjacent Palisades Bowl mobile home park, the struggle to figure out their lives after the fire has been compounded by a deep uncertainty about whether the parks — which contained some of the most affordable housing in affluent Pacific Palisades — will be rebuilt.

More than 300 mobile and prefabricated houses in the parks were incinerated in the Jan. 7 fire.

Residents like Galilee owned their houses but leased the small plots of land on which they sat. So, even if they want to rebuild, the decision is out of their control.

Uncertainty and fear

The ocean-view parks on a terraced hillside just across Pacific Coast Highway from Will Rogers State Beach are prime Westside real estate. The individual mobile home pads have been rent-controlled for decades — despite objections from park owners over the years who argued that they should have been able to charge more to keep up with California’s soaring property values.

Although state laws require cities to preserve and increase affordable housing, the mobile home residents fear they will be priced out of Pacific Palisades if the park owners decide not to rebuild.

“This is, for many people, the one place that they can still live on the Westside. That’s our plea, to protect that and allow us to come back,” said Galilee, who works in the Office of Sustainability and the Environment for the city of Santa Monica.

Before the fire, the average home price in Pacific Palisades was more than $3.4 million. A typical lot in the mobile home parks rented for around $1,300 a month. Many residents had paid off their mobile homes decades ago.

The owners of Tahitian Terrace and the Palisades Bowl could not be reached by The Times for comment.

Seeking answers

In an email to The Times on Monday, Olga Samson, regional manager for Martinez & Associates, which manages the Palisades Bowl, said that “it is far too early to have any discussions about the future of this property.”

Martinez & Associates wrote in a Jan. 10 message to tenants that the property owners “are just beginning to sort out the potential environmental, legal and financial consequences of these sudden and disastrous events” and that the “process is complicated and will take considerable time and involve coordination between many private and public stakeholders.”

City officials weigh in

Steve Soboroff, the chief recovery officer for the city of Los Angeles, said two mobile home parks that burned “served a great need” for affordable housing in Pacific Palisades.

City planners, Brown said, have met with residents and the property owners and are “trying to create a path forward.” But, he said, “it’s going to take some time” — probably a year or more.

Residents in both parks have said that communication from ownership has been sparse and that government officials — even if they are sympathetic — have been able to provide few answers about the tenants’ rights.

James Frantz, an attorney who specializes in wildfire litigation, is representing more than 40 mobile home owners who lived in Palisades Bowl and Tahitian Terrace and who fear the parks will not be rebuilt.

He said that while he has not yet spoken directly with the park owners, he believes that “if they are folks of great integrity and honor, my thought is they will allow the mobile home owners to come back and rebuild the property and have brand new mobile homes … which should increase the value of the neighborhood.”

Conclusion

The struggle for the residents of Tahitian Terrace and the Palisades Bowl is far from over. As they face an uncertain future, they are left wondering if they will be able to return to their homes, rebuild their lives, and preserve their community.

FAQs

* What happened in the Palisades fire?
The Palisades fire destroyed more than 300 mobile and prefabricated houses in the Tahitian Terrace and Palisades Bowl mobile home parks.
* How many people were affected by the fire?
The fire affected hundreds of people who lived in the parks.
* What is the current status of the parks?
The parks are still in the process of being rebuilt, but the timeline for the rebuild is uncertain.
* What is being done to help the residents?
The city is working to provide assistance to the residents, including providing temporary housing and financial support.
* What is the future of the parks?
The future of the parks is uncertain, as the park owners and the city work to determine the best course of action.