State agencies describe wildfire recovery coordination, housing streamlining and dedicated funding for fire-impacted areas

State housing, transportation and air-quality officials described ongoing coordination to support communities affected by recent wildfires and identified administrative and funding steps to speed rebuilding.

Director Gustavo Velasquez of the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) said the governor convened state agencies to accelerate recovery after catastrophic January wildfires in Los Angeles County and that the administration is using executive actions to reduce permitting barriers and speed rebuilding. Velasquez said the administration is consulting with fire-impacted communities and developing "a $96,000,000 notice of funding availability exclusively for multifamily housing development sites in fire impacted areas."

Velasquez also outlined elements intended to speed rebuilding under an executive order discussed in the presentations: local jurisdictions may have discretion to determine whether a given rebuild meets criteria for suspension of CEQA and Coastal Act permitting requirements; jurisdictions may provide property owners copies of existing building plans without obtaining permission from the original architect or engineer; and jurisdictions may consider allowing modest "gentle density" rebuilds such as accessory dwelling units.

Caltrans staff described operational support in affected areas, including traffic control, debris-flow evaluation and assistance with debris-removal route planning. CARB staff described air-monitoring, public outreach and temporary easing of certain requirements to support recovery efforts.

Meeting participants also watched a short video and heard first-person accounts from Pasadena Transit staff and a field reporter describing the agency’s role in evacuating seniors during the Eaton Fire in Altadena. Erasmo Rodriguez, an operations manager at Pasadena Transit, described boarding evacuating residents under chaotic conditions: "We're just boarding the buses, putting as many people as we could. You know, it didn't matter where they sat on the ground ... I put as many people as we can," he said.

Letty Ochoa, general manager of Pasadena Transit, described sending 11 buses out in a caravan through smoke and called the drivers’ actions heroic. "You know, I said, you don't have to do this. And they're like, no. We wanna do this. Let us do it," Ochoa said.

HCD staff said administrative changes have been implemented to leverage existing grant funds, adjust application and reporting deadlines and otherwise streamline recovery efforts for fire-impacted communities. The agencies said they will continue coordination and promised updates at future joint meetings.

Separately, Velasquez highlighted ongoing housing programs and funding rounds that tie housing development to climate and mobility goals, noting an ongoing AHSC (Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities) competition that he said is open for nearly $800,000,000 and a multifamily super-competition with nearly $400,000,000 available. He also cited cumulative awards from cap-and-trade that he said equate to "$4,000,000,000 in cap and trade dollars" that have supported housing production and active-transportation investments, numbers the department presented as evidence of coordinated climate and housing investments.

Commissioners asked for continued interagency coordination and for updates at the next joint meeting; the agencies agreed to return with detailed progress reports.