Many who lost homes in the Eaton and Palisades fires have been asking themselves whether they should rebuild or if it’s time to pull up stakes.
For some, rebuilding may be too costly, too time-consuming, too heartbreaking.
But if they sell — to whom? No shortage of developers are swooping in to buy properties. In Altadena, that’s stirred up concerns over whether the community will retain its socioeconomic diversity or a Black homeownership rate that at 81% was nearly double the national average.
Sell to a nonprofit
One nonprofit says sellers have other options.
This month, Greenline Housing Foundation in Pasadena made what’s believed to be the first Eaton Fire lot purchase by a community organization: a 6,800-plus sq. foot parcel on West Altadena Drive.
“We bought the property at $520,000, completely demolished and with a lot of debris on it,” said Greenline’s founder and president Jasmin Shupper.
Shupper said after seeing the listing, she had reached out to the seller’s agent, expressing interest in submitting an offer.
Shupper made her case to the agent: “Here’s our mission. We’re trying to keep land off the speculative market. We’re trying to avoid mass purchases by developers who might not be community- minded.”
“And so we just started the conversation from there,” Shupper said. “And then he said, ‘Let me talk to my seller.’”
