Real estate professionals and academics are urging Los Angeles leaders to consider allowing self-permitting by owners, issuing special disaster bonds and creating community groups as they rebuild areas of the city in the wake of the most destructive wildfires in California history.
The recommendations are in a report called Project Recovery from the Los Angeles arm of nonprofit real estate association Urban Land Institute, the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate and the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. It has suggestions from 100 local experts in land use, urban planning and economic development in a project that's set to next commission surveys and focus groups to quantify the preferences and wishes of the local community and let that further guide the road to recovery.
Nearly three months after the Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed 11,200 residential and commercial properties on 40,000 acres across Los Angeles, residents and officials are struggling to collaborate on a rebuilding effort. Just four home rebuilding permits have been issued as of Wednesday morning, according to the Department of Building and Safety. The rebuilding process is expected to require permits for at least 8,000 projects.
Meanwhile, Mayor Karen Bass has hired Hagerty Consulting to oversee rebuilding efforts and has directed city departments to fast-track permits for all-electric homes, strengthen wildfire and flood protections and improve infrastructure and water systems— all while establishing a new advisory committee to oversee implementation and insurance guidance for residents.
Rebuilding after a wildfire means more than replacing lost structures, according to the report. The Project recovery group urges city and county leaders to prioritize inclusive community engagement, account for the emotional stress survivors face, and adopt wildfire-resilient landscaping and land-use strategies.
Funding the future
With more than $75 billion in losses, rebuilding the properties damaged or destroyed in the fires will require government assistance from FEMA Grants to Tax Increment Financing to aid in the effort, according to Richard Green, a co-author of the report and director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
The report also recommends local officials explore Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts — a fund created by districts to finance community repairs — and a newer, related type of financing called a Climate Resilience District, to boost rebuilding coffers. The report also encourages the state to issue tax-exempt bonds and earmark the funds for uninsured and underinsured property owners.
“The magnitude of this crisis could only be addressed through a partnership between community members in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors,” Green said in a statement.
Urban planning expert Gadi Kaufmann, chairman of RCLCO Real Estate Consulting and a co-author of the report, recommends establishing Community Rebuilding Authorities in each fire-affected area to cut through multiple layers of approval and oversight, overcome the handicap of limited staffing, and combat a traditional bias against development within the fire areas.
The authorities would function as “general managers” of the recovery process, with operational autonomy to plan and implement rebuilding efforts. They would be overseen by independent governance boards but given the authority to execute projects.
Each authority would be responsible for setting up mechanisms to support recovery such as a financing authority to raise and manage capital for infrastructure and housing, a financial assistance fund to close the gap between insurance payouts and rebuilding costs, and an insurance fund to ensure coverage for the rebuilt communities, according to Kaufmann.
Self-service
The report suggests slashing permitting delays with a self-certification plan that would allow qualified architects and engineers to approve building plans themselves, dramatically cutting down permitting delays as residents and businesses rush to recover.
The 12-point plan lays out a framework for a streamlined permitting system that could fast-track approvals to within 30 days. The city council recently commissioned a study on the economic impacts of such a self-permitting system city-wide.
At the heart of the proposal is a tiered self-certification system. Only licensed professionals with clean records and at least five years of experience could self-approve compliance in areas such as structural safety, ADA access, and energy efficiency. More complex elements, such as zoning variances or hillside development, would still follow traditional city reviews. Permit coordinators from LADBS would be assigned to each project to guide applicants and prevent costly delays caused by late-stage changes.
To support the rollout, the report recommends creating permitting triage centers in affected communities. These would be staffed with personnel from relevant city departments and designed to fast-track plan review and issue clearances in real time. A dedicated inspection unit, bolstered by an apprentice training pipeline, would ensure projects meet safety standards and offset the city’s inspector shortage.
Technology is also central to the proposal. Plans would be submitted and reviewed via a centralized digital platform, enabling virtual inspections and department coordination. AI tools could be deployed to flag potential issues early in the process, reducing review time and minimizing bottlenecks, according to David Waite, an attorney with Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP who led the team of experts responsible for compiling the permitting guidance.
The program draws inspiration from the LADBS Restaurant and Small Business Express Program, which matches applicants with case managers to shepherd projects through the system. The report suggests a similar model for fire-affected homeowners and retailers, with public funding to expand staffing and technical resources. Without those investments, the report cautions, even the most ambitious reforms could stall.