Thousands of people displaced by Los Angeles fires this week face a daunting question: Where to call home for now.
Sheltering in hotels, Airbnbs and the homes of family and friends, Angelenos face the tricky task of finding short and longer-term accommodations in a city crunched for housing before the blaze. With entire neighborhoods destroyed, a chunk of the city’s population has shifted south.
Jean Robison and her two daughters have been staying with a friend who lives 40 minutes to the west, but don’t want to impose on their hospitality for too long. She plans to move to an Airbnb near their old home next week to recreate as much of her family’s pre-fire routine as possible. The property owner hasn’t yet confirmed that the house she plans to rent is still standing.
Finding a longer-term rental, especially near a neighborhood devastated by fire, has proved daunting. “I do need to get on it right away, because so many people are looking for a place. I don’t think there’s much left,” Robison said.
Hailey Ott hugs her mom Cindi Ott after inspecting the damage caused to their home by the Eaton Fire, as powerful winds fueling devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area force people to evacuate, in Altadena, California, U.S. January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
Nearly 180,000 Los Angeles county residents were ordered to evacuate and thousands of structures have been destroyed by four blazes. People who lost their homes are now hunting for new temporary place to live in a region where property values and rent have skyrocketed in recent years.
Los Angeles already faced a housing shortage before fires leveled large swathes of the northwest of the city. The area had a shortage of 337,000 units in 2022, according to home-listing website Zillow. The lack of available homes has contributed to a sharp rise in property prices.
In Los Angeles County, the average value of a single family home rose 40% to $912,000 between the end of 2019 to November 2024, according to Zillow data. In the worst-hit areas by the fires, Altadena and the Pacific Palisades, the typical home value roughly doubled in the past decade to $1.25 million and $3.4 million, respectively.
Jess Willard looks for his belongings amidst the debris from his home burnt down by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, U.S. January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
Unpredictable winds and dry conditions have contributed to new blazes throughout the week, endangering pockets of housing and hotels that once appeared safe.
The Loews hotel in Hollywood was evacuated on Wednesday night when a fire broke out in the Runyon Canyon area, according to a spokesperson. The hotel was full of tourists and people who evacuated from the Pacific Palisades fire.
Evacuees are contending for hotel and short-term rental space during a busy tourist season in Los Angeles. Some have boarded planes to stay with relatives in other states or driven far out of town to areas like Palm Springs and Las Vegas.
Josh Carley fled his home in Pasadena after wind blew out a skylight in his residence and flooded the townhouse with smoke from fires a few blocks away. He and his family checked into a hotel in Anaheim, Calif., on Tuesday night, but had to relocate on Thursday because he couldn’t extend his stay. The venue had been fully booked by other evacuees, Carley said.
Airbnb.org, a nonprofit that operates independently from the short-term rental business, is advertising free, temporary stays for people displaced by the wildfires. The program had thousands of requests within the first few hours, says Christoph Gorder , Airbnb.org’s executive director. As of Thursday morning, more than 300 people received assistance.
Brandon Rude helps his wife, Hailey Ott, with her mask as she cries after inspecting the damage caused to their home by the Eaton Fire, as powerful winds fueling devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area force people to evacuate, in Altadena, California, U.S. January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves
The oceanfront neighborhood of Marina del Rey was full of evacuees who milled about the lobbies and beaches, often with their dogs in tow. At the Marriott , a check-in clerk apologized to a guest Wednesday night for the delay in rooms being prepared because of so many fire victims.
Berritt Newton, 90, who is staying at the Jamaica Bay Inn, said he fled with his two small dogs after smoke could be seen billowing over his Pacific Palisades neighborhood. He and his wife, Sandra Kayla, 74, had planned to move to a recently purchased home in Hawaii and had even put their five-bedroom Palisades home up for lease or sale.
The retired physician said they would accelerate their plans to move and believe their home was destroyed in the fire. “We’re a heck of a lot luckier than a lot of people,” Newton said, as his dogs, Ashton and Daisy, scampered on a beach.
Mark Douglas and his partner, Kara Vallow, loaded three horses into a trailer before fleeing their home in Altadena in the middle of the night. Douglas had to rely on a network of friends and acquaintances to find someone to house the animals 30 miles to the east, before heading to his sister-in-law’s vacant one-bedroom apartment in Silver Lake on the east side of Los Angeles.
“We’re so lucky to have it, but it’s not suitable for three people and animals.”
Friends have reached out with links to short-term rentals, but Douglas worries about longer-term solutions given the city’s persistent housing shortage. Many of the residents in Douglas’s neighborhood bought their homes decades ago, and have seen the value of their properties double since then.
“For a lot of these families, there’s not a solution where they can just buy another home,” Douglas said.
Write to Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
