Overview: Altadena’s Black community is facing disproportionate outcomes and impacts due to the Eaton Fire, with 48% of Black households experiencing damage or destruction compared to 37% for non-Black households. The Eaton Fire has the potential to accelerate the decline of Altadena’s Black community, erasing generations of progress. Predatory insurance companies are targeting families; and 57% of Black homeowners in Altadena are over 65 and face barriers to recovery, including insufficient insurance and financial exploitation. The recovery process must acknowledge the historical legacy and the disparities stemming from it to provide tailored support.
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In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena’s Black community faces disproportionate outcomes and impacts, according to a recent data brief from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Black households in Altadena were disproportionately more likely to experience damage or destruction due to the Eaton Fire, according to the data brief from the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
Approximately 48% of Black households/units were destroyed or extremely damaged by the Eaton Fire, compared to 37% for non-Black households.
“The Eaton Fire has the potential to accelerate the decline of Altadena’s Black community, erasing generations of progress,” stated Lorrie Frasure, a professor of political science and African American studies who directs the Bunche Center, in a press release.
Thousands of Black families are now facing displacement and have been the target of predatory insurance companies attempting to purchase the land where their homes once stood. Authors of the brief noted that historical redlining practices resulted in the concentration of Black families into the areas of Altadena most affected by the fire, specifically the western region of Altadena.
In 1939, as a result of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s (HOLC) low designation of western Altadena, it created opportunities for Black families to purchase homes despite the systemic barriers during the time. This also allowed for a rare occurrence: the possibility of a generational transfer of homeownership. But this legacy of redlining contributed to the large concentration of Black residents who were closest to Eaton fire zone areas, the brief summarized.
“It is critical to place the consequences of the Eaton Fire in a broader historical and societal context,” stated Paul Ong, research professor and director of the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. “Doing so highlights the numerous challenges and inequalities African Americans face in the United States today.”
An estimated 57% of Black homeowners in Altadena are over the age of 65 and now many face barriers to recovery, including insufficient insurance and financial exploitation related to rebuilding or restoring their homes.
Following the LA County fires, Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken steps to address some of these barriers by signing executive orders protecting firestorm impacted families from predatory land speculators who are “making aggressive and unsolicited cash offers to purchase their property.”
As of Jan. 29, the Eaton Fire is 99% contained and more than 14,000 acres have burned. Among those acres, at least 2,800 Black households were forced to evacuate within a day of the Eaton Fire’s outbreak on Jan. 7, according to the brief.
An analysis from the brief noted that among Black homeowners, 45% are cost-burdened, which is characterized by spending over 30% of their household income on housing costs, and 28% are severely cost-burdened, which means spending more than 50% of their household income on housing.
“The recovery process must acknowledge this historic legacy and the disparities stemming from it to provide tailored support that ensures the restoration and future of this vibrant community,” Frasure stated.
The road to recovery for Altadena’s Black residents will take time and will take a combination of community support and legislation that promotes the rebuilding of Altadena’s historic community.