The Brief

As neighborhoods start to rebuild from January’s destructive fires in Los Angeles County, a debate is sweeping across social media and into the halls of local government: Is adding more housing in burn zones unsafe? Or could it be a solution for areas that were deeply unaffordable?

Focus has centered on Senate Bill 9. The state law allows homeowners to split their lots and build duplexes on land zoned for single-family homes. Homeowners can use SB 9 to build up to four homes on lots previously reserved for one.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass banned SB 9 projects in the Pacific Palisades as soon as Gov. Gavin Newsom gave local leaders permission to suspend the law in burn zones. Opponents of denser housing say allowing more homes, and more people, in these neighborhoods will ruin community character and clog roads during future emergencies.

But in Altadena, county leaders have taken a hands-off approach.

“I don't want to disenfranchise anyone from the ability to rebuild,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, told LAist in a recent interview. “We have the flexibility at the local level to address what SB 9 is doing without taking away local land rights.”

In Altadena, 26 applications and counting

Because SB 9 projects tend to be costly and tightly regulated, the law has been seldom used since it took effect in 2022. But now, dozens of homeowners with burned-down lots are using SB 9 in their rebuilds.

Seven SB 9 applications were submitted in the Palisades before Bass quashed further submissions. In Altadena, the county received 26 applications by early September.

Barger said she is generally opposed to state laws that supersede local land-use decisions. And she has praised Newsom for an executive order restricting high-density housing development along the commercial corridors of Fair Oaks Avenue and Lake Avenue in the wake of the Eaton Fire.

But, Barger said, SB 9 gives homeowners financial opportunities — like renting out secondary units or pooling resources with other family members planning to live together, but in separate buildings, on the same lot. Those options could spell the difference between rebuilding, or having to sell and leave Altadena for good.

“I want people to be able to choose to rebuild because they want to,” Barger said. “I want to make sure I don't put any hurdles in place.”

Old home is a lodestar for new plans

Large windows and steel framing can be seen in Paul Sanchez's former home in Altadena.

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Courtesy of Paul Sanchez

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That’s reassuring to homeowners like Paul Sanchez, who is considering building up to three units on his lot in Altadena. Before the fire, his family lived in a classic exemplar of post-war California modernism. It had an open floor plan, steel framing and floor-to-ceiling windows.

“The home that I lived in was built by an architect who fled Vienna, was a Holocaust survivor, and built with new materials and new ideas at the time in 1948,” Sanchez said. “I'm going to continue this legacy of new ideas.”

Sanchez said sustainability and affordability are key to his vision for rebuilding. His plans aren’t finalized yet, but he said he’s looking into various pre-fabricated models made with fire-resistant materials. And he wants to keep the units relatively small and affordable to prospective renters, as well as for him and his wife (their adult daughter is now out of the house).

“I'm cautiously optimistic,” Sanchez said, looking out over this dirt lot. “I think SB 9 is an option that could really help me. Because I'm not sure if I can do it without it.”

Paul Sanchez stands on the dirt lot in Altadena where he plans to build smaller, more affordable homes made from fire-resistant materials.

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David Wagner/LAist

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When rebuilding is a family affair

Other homeowners are planning to use SB 9 to make room for multi-generational family members who were previously squeezed into homes designed for fewer people.

Lori Gay, chief executive of the nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Services of L.A. County, said her organization is counseling homeowners on programs that could aid in their rebuilding efforts. She said SB 9 is complex but could be the right answer for many families.

Gay said that when talking with long-term, cash-strapped Altadenans, her staff tries “as nice as we can” to discourage homeowners from selling their properties.

She said they ask: “Do you have someone else in your family that either you’d consider selling to, or parcel-splitting with?”

Gay said the organization tries to help property owners find other viable options.

“The number one thing we've seen with all those conversations is that seniors are willing to move into a smaller space and let their families move into the major property,” Gay said. “So as we think about rebuilding now, is that something that's workable for people?”

SB 9 panned on social media

Opponents of SB 9 contend that the law is unsafe and unsuited to areas rebuilding from massive fires.

Before Bass suspended the law in the Pacific Palisades, social media influencer and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt posted a series of viral videos on TikTok lambasting elected leaders for allowing duplexes in the neighborhood. He said the area “cannot handle more density.”

Christopher LeGras, a consultant with Our Neighborhood Voices, a group that organizes against state housing density, said safety concerns are paramount.

“The idea of putting in more people who would have to evacuate if — God forbid — there's another major emergency, is just reckless,” he said.

Opponents also view SB 9 as a threat to neighborhoods’ previous low-density character. LeGras said that by building more units on lots that used to hold just one, homeowners could end up discouraging their neighbors from wanting to return.

“That's going to fundamentally change the character of that block,” LeGras said. “When you start talking duplexes and real, more substantial multifamily [homes], I think that's a bridge too far.”

SB 9 is banned, but ADUs are allowed

None of the SB 9 applications submitted in Altadena so far have asked to split their lots, and none have asked for the maximum of four units. Instead, they’re adding more gentle forms of density.

Barger told LAist she has asked the county’s Public Works Department to report back to her on what higher density projects would mean for Altadena. But for now, she said, she wants to leave SB 9 on the table for homeowners struggling to rebuild.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

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Samanta Helou Hernandez

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LAist

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So far, elected leaders in Malibu have also refrained from taking up the governor’s offer of banning SB 9 in burn zones. City officials told LAist last month that they had yet to receive any applications for lot splits.

Developer Andrew Slocum, CEO of Green Development Company, is working with homeowners on their SB 9 projects in Altadena. He said many are planning to add just one additional unit to their property. They’re using SB 9, he said, because it results in more advantageous property valuations than homeowners would get through typical accessory dwelling unit laws.

Slocum said Bass’s decision was a “knee jerk reaction” that “robbed” homeowners in the Pacific Palisades of better options for rebuilding.

“To just blanket take it away from them, when it really would result in the same amount of housing, the same amount of people as an ADU… it's really unfair,” Slocum said.

In Newsom’s executive order, which gave local leaders the option to suspend SB 9 in very high fire hazard severity burn zones, he said the state law was not tailored for natural disasters such as the deadly January fires that destroyed more than 13,000 homes.

The governor’s order does not apply to all of Altadena, but local leaders could suspend SB 9 in the community’s eastern foothills if they so choose.