Los Angeles fire reconstruction efforts continue through the year amid delays

More than a year after the devastating fires swept through Los Angeles, residents are still struggling to rebuild their homes, citing permits, insurance and funding gaps.

The Palisades and Eaton fires started in January 2025, destroyed more than 16,000 homes and burned more than 38,000 acres, according to official reports.

The city of Los Angeles has received 3,561 permit applications and issued 1,939 permits for 844 unique addresses, as of Feb. 21, according to the report LA Strong Return and Rebuild website. The data is updated hourly by the Los Angeles Department of Public Safety, according to the page.

CALIFORNIANS ARE FACED WITH PAIN ONE YEAR AFTER THE LOS ANGELES FIRE DESTROYED THEIR LIVES.

There are currently 1,189 applications being reviewed and 2,372 plans approved as of Friday.

“Hundreds of homes are already being built in the Palisades, with more than 1,000 permits in the pipeline. That’s real progress — but those are the people who can’t,” said LA District 11 Councilperson Traci Park in a statement sent to FOX Business. “Thousands of others remain homeless, facing endless insurance disputes and the inability to find affordable financing to rebuild.

Palisades residents like Michelle Bitting, whose home was destroyed in the fire, say there is an “element of fatigue” in the ongoing process.

“The minutia of what we had to go through with insurance was exhausting,” Bitting told FOX Business. “Policy details and kind of understanding all those things.”

Bitting said he has “good knowledge” about insurance, but they are having a hard time getting permission to rebuild. He said he and his family were “ahead of the game.”

“Our dogs [were] dug up, it’s been two rains now, we’ve covered them, they’ve been pulled out again… They’ve been telling us any day for two months to get this permit,” said Bitting.

Mychal Wilson, a whistleblower attorney and Palisades resident, echoed the same sentiments about the approval process.

“Permits have been issued, and it takes anywhere between 30 days to six months, but some of it is up to the homeowner,” Wilson said. “You go through the design, and you say, ‘Well, wait a minute. I want to increase the square footage … I think there’s that issue in the permitting process that’s holding things back.’

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Wilson said they decided to expand after the fire. He told FOX Business that they sent their plans to the city and a “soil report” and, as of Feb. 14, he expected they would receive their permits “within two weeks.”

Los Angeles City Council they voted unanimously waive permit fees for residents affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires.

The proposal, passed on Feb. 3, we waive the plan inspection and permit fees “for all buildings, regardless of the scale of reconstruction/renovation, up to the amount specified at 110% of the original mark.”

A view of the fire-ravaged beach area overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the Palisades Fire, Jan. 12, 2025, Malibu, Calif. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Part of the proposal calls for the city administrator to establish a “Wildfire Emergency Permit Fund, for General City Purposes” and would “qualify $10 million in short-term loans from the Building and Safety Building Permit Enterprise Fund,” which would then be repaid with interest.

The decision eliminates the fees for all properties, including single-family homes, duplexes, condominiums, multi-family residences, and commercial properties.

In an Instagram post, Park thanked the city manager for reiterating the proposal, as it was originally intended for single-family homes.

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“That wasn’t good enough, and we weren’t going to leave our small businesses, our tenants, our seniors and our condos, or our families in our backyard parks,” Park said in the post.

He said the passage of this proposal “[removed] barriers that prevent many people from being able to start the process of rebuilding and returning to their homes.”

“Now that the recovery reports have come in, we are focusing on a major photo project that will speed up reconstruction,” Park continued in a statement.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump visit a fire-ravaged area, Jan. 24, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (Mandel Ngan/Getty Images/Getty Images)

The current state of urban renewal has drawn scrutiny from the federal government. President Donald Trump issued an executive order authorizing the federal government to take steps to rebuild Los Angeles.

The executive order, titled “Addressing State and Local Failures to Rebuild Los Angeles After Wildfire Disaster,” directs the heads of SBA and FEMA to issue regulations that go beyond California and LA’s permit requirements, according to the report. previous report by Fox News.

Wilson told FOX Business that government assistance “would be great if they could come and help.”

“I think it’s good because the federal government, FEMA has never really helped anybody … and it’s not just in the Palisades, it’s part of the policy and administration right now,” Wilson said. “The problem is FEMA and they’re more concerned with the big picture, and the local government is the one that can really enforce, for example, permits.”

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Park said the upcoming town hall will allow citizens to directly assess what should be included in the “long-term recovery plan.”

“This should always be community-driven – and the government’s job is to clear the way, not stand in the way,” Park said.

FOX Business contacted LA Mayor Karen Bass, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Steve Hilton’s newspaper offices, but he didn’t get an immediate response.