Today, the Public Interest Law Project joined local nonprofit and academic partners in releasing a new report, Confronting Disaster: Curbing Corporate Speculation in Post-Fire Altadena, which analyzes the displacement risks facing long-term Altadena residents, especially Black Altadenans, in the wake of the Eaton Fire as outside investors rush in. It makes concrete policy recommendations for local and state leaders to protect families from displacement and preserve Altadena’s historic neighborhoods and residents.

This community-driven research was produced through a partnership – between SAJE (Strategic Actions for a Just Economy), Inclusive Action for the City, morena strategies, Public Interest Law Project, the UCLA Veterans Legal Clinic, and theworksLA – and includes an earlier spatial analysis that was released in May 2025 showing where displacement risk is concentrated in Altadena.

The full report combines parcel-level spatial data, lessons from other post-disaster recovery efforts, and a policy platform that prevents predatory speculation and the racialized displacement of Altadena residents. The report’s goal is to inform land use policies that prioritize the economic and social wellbeing of residents most impacted by the Eaton Fire, not corporate investors.

The Eaton Fire in January struck in the wake of demographic changes and intensifying gentrification pressures in Altadena, California – historically home to one of the largest communities of Black homeowners in Los Angeles County. Following the fire, corporate acquisition of land accelerated in Altadena neighborhoods.

The report’s findings include:

• Rising housing costs were making renters and homeowners vulnerable to displacement prior to the Eaton Fire;
• This pre-fire displacement vulnerability was racialized, disproportionately affecting Black homeowners in western Altadena;
• Corporate investors have accelerated their purchases of Altadena properties in 2025. Of the 151 post-fire sales from February 11 to July 5, 2025, 74 (49%) parcels were purchased by corporate entities – compared to only 18 of 181 (10%) during the same period the previous year.
• Post-fire property sales are notably concentrated in BIPOC communities.

The report’s policy recommendations include:

• State leaders should pass Assembly Bill 851 (McKinnor) to reinstate, and extend until 2027, the Governor’s expired Executive Order prohibiting below-market unsolicited offers to buy land in the burn area. The bill would also extend the prohibition to any unsolicited offer, regardless of price; giving homeowners the right to rescind any sale they were unscrupulously induced to enter up to four months after the close of escrow;
• The State and County should adopt and fund the Altadena Community Acquisition Fund – a community-backed proposal for a $200 million investment to resource trusted community groups to acquire and hold Altadena properties that are listed for sale.
• The State and County should also adopt a Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) policy, giving qualified community organizations – like community land trusts and land banks – an opportunity to buy properties before the broader private market.

The report authors reflect on their findings and recommendations, and the urgency of protecting Altadena’s residents and historic communities:

“It should come as no surprise that investors are targeting the areas with the highest investment return. If we want to support one of the few examples of neighborhood-wide Black homeownership in Los Angeles County, we will need strong policy intervention to ensure there is an alternative to this pattern of opportunistic, profit-centered purchasing,” said Cynthia Strathman, Executive Director of SAJE.

“This report sounds the alarm about the urgent policy interventions needed to keep Altadena land in community hands, and safeguard communities of color. Our state and local leaders must act with urgency to create legislative protections, launch a community land banking program and invest resources to protect generations of local families before it’s too late,” said Doug Smith, Vice President of Policy and Legal Strategy at Inclusive Action for the City.

“While this report highlights the truly dire reality Altadena is facing, our hope is that those with the power to do something will hear this clear call to action. And also, that those outside of Altadena or Los Angeles County – or even California – will heed this warning and proactively put in place needed policy frameworks before their communities are impacted by disaster capitalism,” said Rémy De La Peza, lifelong Pasadena resident and Founder and Principal of morena strategies.

“PILP engaged in this research as a follow up to our 2024 statewide Land Use and Ownership Scan which showed that investment entities are the largest identifiable landowners in California after the federal government. Confronting Disaster: Curbing Corporate Speculation in Post-Fire Altadena brings that data to the street level – showing how shifts in land ownership will shape who is able to return to Altadena and who gets left behind,” said Shashi Hanuman, Executive Director, The Public Interest Law Project.

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ABOUT SAJE

SAJE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in South Central Los Angeles that builds community power and leadership for economic justice. Founded in 1996, SAJE focuses on tenant rights, healthy housing, and equitable development. We believe that everyone in Los Angeles, regardless of income or connections, should have a voice in creating the policies that shape our city, and that the fate of city neighborhoods should be decided by those who dwell there in a manner that is fair, replicable, and sustainable.

ABOUT INCLUSIVE ACTION FOR THE CITY

Inclusive Action for the City is a nonprofit economic justice organization based in Los Angeles that is on mission is to serve underinvested communities and build thriving local economies by improving access to transformative capital, and advancing policy through collaborative research and community-driven advocacy. The organization was founded in 2008 and has been a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) since 2020.

ABOUT MORENA STRATEGIES

moena strategies is a woman-of-color-owned, collaborative community lawyering and consulting practice dedicated to catalyzing, amplifying, and fortifying the power that exists within historically underinvested communities through people-centered community and economic development place-based strategies.

ABOUT PUBLIC INTEREST LAW PROJECT

The Public Interest Law Project (PILP) spearheads major public interest impact litigation and systemic advocacy in affordable housing, public benefits, homelessness prevention, and civil rights, working to advance racial and economic justice for low-income communities and communities of color. As a statewide legal support center, PILP provides technical assistance, training, research, litigation, and advocacy support to public interest law programs and community based organizations on law and policy issues related to housing, public benefits, anti-displacement, community preservation, and civil rights.

ABOUT UCLA VETERANS LEGAL CLINIC

The UCLA School of Law’s Veterans Legal Clinic seeks to address the unmet legal needs of veterans, particularly those staying or accessing services at the West L.A. VA Medical Center, while developing the practical skills of law students and enhancing their knowledge of, and appreciation for, the issues facing our former military service members.

ABOUT THEWORKSLA

theworksLA is a data visualization and cartography design studio that specializes in narrating the multifaceted stories of Los Angeles through the use of maps, data, and design.

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