Architect Coalition Completes 200 Rebuilding Plans for Altadena Residents Displaced by Fire

This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LAist on July 31, 2025 and is republished here with permission.

A coalition of architects has created around 200 free individualized plans to help people rebuild after losing their homes in the Eaton Fire — part of a larger effort to assist Altadena’s Black community and preserve the cultural legacy of the neighborhood.

The “Rebuild Readiness” packages give homeowners a head start in the reconstruction process and connect them with architects from the Southern California chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, also known as Socal NOMA.

The Altadena Rebuild Coalition started weeks after the January fires when members of Socal NOMA recognized the scale of the destruction. They said they also felt a desire to preserve Altadena’s history as a community that afforded people of color the chance to be homeowners.

“ The leadership organized to create a coalition group to address this very concern and this need for the community, specifically the Black and Brown community,” said Winston Thorne, one of the architects in the coalition.

Before the fires, Altadena’s population was 58% people of color and about 18% of residents were Black, according to census data. The community, part of unincorporated Los Angeles County, has a Black homeownership rate nearly twice as high as the national average. Around 75% of Black Altadena residents own their homes, according to the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge.

According to its website, the coalition structured the group around three goals: historic preservation, community engagement and helping homeowners rebuild.

How the packages work

Architect Charles Bryant lived in his Altadena home for 22 years. His house, which used to be nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, had expansive views of downtown Pasadena and Los Angeles before it burned down alongside most of his neighbors’ homes.

Today, his property is mostly dirt. After the Army Corps of Engineers cleared debris, all that remains are charred plants that line a concrete walkway to where his house used to stand.

Bryant, who works in Pasadena, said he is dedicated to rebuilding his home.

“ We'll just move forward,” he said. “ You just have to move the roadblocks… figure out a way to get around it and just make it work.”

As a member of the coalition, Bryant helped work on the Rebuild Readiness packages.

They contain information about a person's property, including its size, zoning classification and historical records. They also contain a timeline for how long each phase of the rebuild is expected to take and an action plan to stay on track.

There are several steps to getting a house rebuilt, and a package doesn't mean a homeowner can start building right away. However, Thorne said “it's a start that expedites that whole design and build process.”

The coalition also connects homeowners with a Socal NOMA architect, who can provide design services based on their individual needs.

Thorne said he hopes providing homeowners with this information will dissuade them from selling their property to developers.

“ We don't want to see this turn out to be like other natural disasters that we've seen throughout our country. So we're trying very diligently to try to avert the fragmentation of Altadena by speculators,” he said.

How the Altadena’s history informed their work

Altadena’s history as a refuge for Black Angelenos is core to the identity of the neighborhood. The coalition wants to preserve that.

Prior to the 1960s Altadena was a predominantly white neighborhood because of redlining, a practice that prevented Black families from securing mortgages for homes in certain areas. Racial covenants in Pasadena also prevented Black families from moving in, further limiting where they could live.

The passage of the Fair Housing Act as part of the Civil Rights Act made discriminatory housing practices illegal, breaking down barriers that kept Black residents out of the neighborhood.

This prompted “white flight” from the area. As white residents left, Black families moved in to create one of the first middle class neighborhoods to include Black residents in the area, known as the Meadows neighborhood.

The Black population expanded from less than 1% in 1960 to around 4% in 1970, and continued to grow. Today, Altadena is around 18% Black.

The coalition held listening sessions with Altadena’s community to better understand what the neighborhood meant to them and what should be preserved.

“ Some people talked about Altadena being the best kept secret,” Thorne said. “It was the anchor point for their legacy. A lot of their children would end up buying homes in, proximity or in other cities, but [they] would always come back to Altadena as the hub for engagement and exchange of history and values."

Roadblocks to rebuilding

One of the biggest roadblocks that homeowners face is how to pay for their rebuild.

“Many people have no insurance and many people are underinsured,” Bryant said. “I'm actually underinsured and I have a gap that I have to close financially.”

Bryant is confident that he can fund his rebuild, but he said that there are many people who can’t.

Some homeowners may have coverage that helps them relocate to a rental property while they wait for their home to be rebuilt. Throne said he worried that relocation assistance would run out for many before their home was finished.

One way to spread out the cost while giving people a place to stay is building accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, while the main house is under construction. ADUs can be faster and cheaper to build than traditional housing.

Bryant said he's hopeful that some of those ADUs will be donated, which would further reduce costs.

Regardless of how a homeowner rebuilds, getting started soon was a key concern for Thorne, which is why rebuild packages are going out now. He also expects uncertainty about increased tariffs and ICE raids disrupting the labor market to further delay construction and add costs.

What’s next?

Driving through Altadena, the neighborhood appears to have moved into a different phase of recovery. Most properties have been cleared, rubble replaced by builders signs and other indicators of construction.

The Altadena Rebuild Coalition is also moving to a different phase.

“ We still have work to do, but we have met our commitment in terms of developing these rebuild packages, which is really the exclamation mark of this coalition group,” Thorne said.

Moving forward, coalition members may work directly with homeowners as architects or as project managers for residents using a pre-approved plan. Bryant is managing several of his neighbors' rebuild projects.

Walking along Bryant's property, he pointed out the plants that he was attempting to nurse back to health.

One was a cactus, burned on the sides. The top of the cactus, however, was green and full of life. His plants are starting to regrow.

Bryant and his neighbors hope Altadena will too.