A prominent group of academics and real estate industry experts have developed extensive plans to speed up the recovery of the Los Angeles County area, which was ravaged by the wildfires of January.
The authors have identified obstacles to recover obstacles and proposed solutions such as speeding up the construction approval process. Addressing labor and supply chain issues. Stabilizes the California real estate insurance market.
“We want to make sure we’re moving as quickly as possible to try to get people back home,” said Luhone, chairman of the Greater Los Angeles area at real estate services company CBRE.
The 172-page “Project Recovery” report was compiled by USC and UCLA’s Graduate School of Real Estate, and was compiled by the Los Angeles chapter of the Urban Land Institute, a non-profit education laboratory for real estate.
The deepest appearance ever appears to what steps can be taken for revival, as the weight of the options for evacuated residents to return to Pallisad, Altadena, Malibu and other affected areas of the Pacific.
According to the Urban Land Research Institute, more than 100 experts in land use, urban planning and economic development provided technical analysis and recommendations to help them make decisions and collaborate.
The report draws on the experience of labs advising disaster-affected communities such as Colorado after the Marshall Fire in 2021 and New York and New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.
“Project Recovery” is an independent report not related to ongoing research by Steve Soboroff, Mayor Karen Bass’s Wildfire Chief Recovery Director.
The institute’s report submitted to city and county staff is “a blueprint for recovery from people who know a lot about a variety of issues,” Soboroff said. “It’s the best thing that comes out far away.”
Construction workers will begin the reconstruction process in a home destroyed by the Palisade fire in Pacific Palisades on March 18, 2025.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
Many of those proposals are in sync with Soborov’s “90-day report” of observations and recommendations presented in the second week of April, he said.
Several important recovery measures have already been taken. The city has approved permission to rebuild three homes in Pallisard in the Pacific Ocean. As of last week, 72 property owners had submitted restructuring applications to the city. An additional 98 people have been submitted to LA County for reconstruction in unincorporated areas.
In the new report, a team of experts working with the Urban Land Research Institute identified major obstacles to recovery from a wide range of wildfires and proposed strategic solutions such as:
Standardization of debris removal protocols
Consultants and contractors should follow the same protocol for debris removal, whether the Army Corps of Engineers or civil parties are engaged, the report says. For example, the research team found that exemptions from certain requirements of the South Coast Air Quality Control District Rules related to asbestos removal are offered to contractors engaged by the Army Corps of Engineers but not expanded to contractors engaged personally.
The soil sampling results should ensure that each property meets the accepted criteria and issue a certificate of completion by a state or local environmental agency to document that the criteria have been met and connected as a permanent record to the building permit file for each property.
rationalization approval
The report approves a permit self-certification program being investigated by Los Angeles officials. Targeted projects include single-family homes, accessory housing, apartments and small commercial projects. Licensed architects, engineers and design professionals can “self-certify” their architectural plans and specifications as they comply with objective building code requirements.
You will need a self-authentication digital application used by the Project Authorization Coordinator.
“I think I’ll get a one-year qualification program and knock it down in 30 days,” Horn said.
Continuous reviews by multiple departments such as buildings and fires will also be eliminated, and will need to be replaced by a program that integrates all reviews under a single project permit coordinator.
Addressing labor and supply chain issues
Onsite Rebuild Logistics Centers must be created for each wildfire area that can process up to 350 permits per month within 30 days of the application.
The center will provide logistics planning and management of peak parallel construction activities of 1,000-2,000 homes and 30,000-40,000 workers per wildfire area. Logistics professionals deal with workers’ parking, housing and services. Construction delivery; transportation routes; material staging; and working hours. The center also provides offices for inspectors and inspection scheduling services.
Restoring infrastructure and utility services should be coordinated with home construction to promote the construction of new homes.
Stabilizes the California Real Estate Insurance Market
The insurance challenges faced by many homeowners who endured catastrophic losses underscored the need to address long-standing issues with state fire insurance coverage that threaten California’s future prosperity, the authors of the report said.
“These wildfire disasters are very thick icing coats on the insurance crisis cake,” said Stuart Gabriel, economist at UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate. “It’s very important that it’s effectively addressed.”
Some recommendations require insurers to consider community-wide mitigation efforts when setting home hardening, defensible space and rates and updating policies. It gives homeowners clear guidance on how to prepare their property for the best rates. We offer public-private reinsurance programs to encourage insurers to re-enter high-risk areas.
Additionally, insurers should consider forest management in underwriting and boost federal, state and local funding for forest and chaparral management strategies, such as forest and fuel load reduction.
Reconstruction authorities in these communities act as general managers empowered to plan and implement reconstruction and recovery efforts. They are overseeing from an independent governance committee, but will maintain operational autonomy and authority.
CRA obligations include establishing a financial support fund to help asset owners cover funding gaps, and creating a privately operated center to coordinate planning, permits and inspections under one roof.
The report also recommends launching a consortium of builders that can provide turnkey rebuilding solutions to property owners who prefer not to rebuild themselves.
An important part of the reconstruction process is engaging with people in the affected communities and finding what they want and what they expect, says economist Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. “We agree that we need to bring an economy of scale to reconstruction, but if they feel they’re being imposed on them, it won’t go anywhere. Their emotions are so raw right now.”
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