By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
More than 80 survivors of the devastating January 2025 Eaton Fire from Pasadena and Altadena visited the California State Capitol on May 19 to advocate for more recovery support from Sacramento during what they describe as a slow rebuild.
Organized by the Dena Rise Up (DRU) coalition, the survivors are demanding housing relief, fair insurance protections, environmental remediation, long-term recovery funding, and preservation of their communities’ cultural legacy.
“The reason why we are here is that we’re in a position of being at risk of never returning to Altadena,” said Heavenly Hughes, co-founder and executive director of the mutual aid nonprofit My Tribe Rise. “Today, we’re saying ‘SOS.’ We need help today. We need money now. We need urgent and immediate assistance when it comes to housing funds, (and) when it comes to rebuilding funds.”
The My Tribe movement actively protects local Black and Brown families in Altadena from being priced out or pressured into selling their generational land to luxury developers. DRU is a diverse coalition of local grassroots organizations advocating for an inclusive, survivor-led recovery.
State Sens. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) and Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) joined to support the residents at the Capitol Annex Swing Space. Hughes said less than 1% of the significantly damaged homes in the Altadena and Pasadena areas have been successfully rebuilt.
Over the last 15 months, survivors have been struggling with the loss of their properties, prolonged recovery challenges, cleanup efforts, severe housing displacement, toxic soil, structural contamination, and fights with insurance companies that refuse to cover the costs, homeowners claim.
Hughes’ home, which she shared with her 78-year-old mother and grandchildren, was completely leveled by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 8, 2025. They lived in the house for over 50 years.
Through her organization, Hughes has collected and distributed emergency cash grants to help fellow survivors in her community pay mortgages on non-existent homes and avoid foreclosure. Now, she is lobbying state lawmakers in Sacramento for wildfire contamination testing, insurance protections, and immediate housing support.
“Right now, we still have families living in tents, living in cars, and Airbnbs today,” Hughes said. “We’re asking Gov. Newsom, ‘where is the money?’ Where is the money that has been set aside for fire survivors? Right now, there’s not enough funding to rebuild homes, to rebuild our schools, to rebuild our businesses. We need support today.”
Altadena is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in California and has served historically as a haven for middle-class Black families. It is home to one of the largest communities of Black homeowners in Los Angeles County.
Hughes and other survivors say that only 6% of ruined properties have been rebuilt since the fires.
Shortly after the fires, Newsom provided a $2.5 billion state relief package for survivors of the Los Angeles wildfires, which included the Eaton Fire in Altadena and Pasadena.
Nearly 16 months later, Hughes said $1.5 billion remains unspent.
In his May 2026 budget revision, Newsom proposed an additional $100 million disaster recovery fund. The survivors and activists say the funding is a step in the right direction. However, it only bridges the financial gap between insurance payouts and construction costs, lower monthly loan costs, and helps survivors secure private construction financing.
“They need to hear the voices of survivors,” Hughes said. “We know it’s important to put pressure on those who are holding the key to our recovery.”
DRU Coalition and My Tribe Rise are actively supporting a specific slate of legislative reforms.
Assembly Bill (AB) 1642, authored by John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), is the Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act. It sets stricter environmental remediation and contamination testing standards for fire-impacted communities.
After initially being placed on the suspense file, the bill passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee with an 11-0 vote on May 14.
Senate Bill (SB) 1301 , authored by Allen provides policyholder protections that prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage (non-renewal) for survivors recovering from disasters.
On May 14, the bill passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee with a 5-2 vote. The bill advances to a third reading on the Senate Floor. If approved by the Senate, SB 1301 will move to the Assembly.
Authored by Pérez, SB 878, the Insurance Payment Accountability Act, ensures timely insurance payouts to allow displaced families the opportunity to rebuild without enduring unnecessary wait times.
The bill requires “insurers to pay a 20% annual interest penalty” on delayed claim payments, Pérez said. It passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee with a 5-2 vote on May 14 and was ordered to the Senate floor for its third reading.
“It is already state law that insurance companies are supposed to pay claims in a timely manner,” Pérez said. “They need to make sure that their customers are made whole.”
The devastating Eaton Fire in Southern California destroyed a total of 9,418 structures.
Damon Blount and his wife Audra lived in Altadena for 26 years and put three daughters through college while living there. They lost everything.
Blount, a truck driver, lost his work truck in the fire, and both his weekday and weekend jobs because of the fire.
“That home was our peace. That home was our joy. That home was our security,” Blount said. “That was our future we’d hoped to leave to our daughters and granddaughter. My wife and I knew the rebuild would be difficult. What we did not expect was that insurance delays would become another disaster.”
Kai Timbadia, 18, and his family are facing severe hardships after losing their home.
Timbadia said that his mother suffered a brain injury that has left her paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, and his sister has special needs.
“We should not have to fight against the systems that are supposed to protect us,” Timbadia said.
