In a rare bipartisan effort, President Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass are advocating for victims of January's firestorms in Los Angeles County to rebuild their communities. They aim to preserve the single-family housing structures, amid rising housing density laws that emphasize low- and middle-income units. The destruction of over 16,000 structures has created potential new land for housing, but lawmakers must navigate conflicting state mandates requiring higher density. Critics argue that increased development in fire-prone areas may lead to more potential victims in future disasters.
If density increases in burn footprints, the number of prospective victims in the inevitable future fires there will also increase. Some planners are already saying there should be less development, not more, in these areas.
In both places, this would mean large quantities of single-family housing and few multifamily apartment and condominium buildings, but these aims may conflict with recent housing laws.
Newsom could suspend some of those laws if he chooses, just as he exempted properties leveled by the Palisades fire, but he has not done that.
Recent state and local laws demand vastly increased density in new housing and many low- and middle-income units, challenging the desire to rebuild communities as they once were.
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