Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) along with various advocacy groups are calling for increased housing support for victims of January’s devastating Eaton fire.
On Tuesday, Chu led a roundtable discussion at the Altadena Library featuring officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, and numerous organizations dedicated to assisting survivors.
During this event, representatives of over a dozen advocacy groups voiced their concerns regarding ongoing housing struggles faced by fire survivors, many of whom are still living in hotel rooms, their cars, or unstable accommodations.
“Survivors of the Eaton fire are slipping through the cracks,” Chu stated at a subsequent news conference.
One of the key requests made by Chu was for FEMA to activate a program known as Direct Lease. This program would allow FEMA to directly lease apartments for those disaster survivors who are struggling to secure housing independently.
Despite the existence of federal housing vouchers and other forms of assistance, advocates argue thousands remain in precarious living situations.
Chu highlighted that FEMA has yet to deploy the Direct Lease program in Los Angeles, even though it is routinely activated in other regions following natural disasters, as seen recently with the wildfires in Maui.
The January wildfires resulted in the destruction of nearly 13,000 homes, with a significant portion of these losses occurring in Altadena and its surrounding areas.
Despite claims by FEMA and the California Office of Emergency Services suggesting thousands of rental units are available in LA County, Chu refutes this by stating, “We know from anecdotal evidence that that cannot be true.”
She stressed that the actual situation on the ground tells a different story.
Advocates for the fire survivors identified several challenges, including excessively high income requirements set by landlords, low credit scores among potential tenants, and a lack of acceptance of FEMA-provided vouchers by many property owners.
To compound the issue, FEMA’s assessments of L.A.’s rental market have included properties in far-flung areas like the Antelope Valley, which are not suitable for those impacted by the fires.
“There is a huge gap between availability and vacancy and accessibility,” noted Jasmin Shupper, president of Greenline Housing Foundation, a local nonprofit focused on housing issues.
The urgency of the plea for more robust housing aid comes against a backdrop of budget cuts to FEMA and the federal government’s pushback on disaster spending.
On the same day, the President threatened to cut federal funding to California due to the state’s policies regarding transgender athletes in girls’ sports.
According to Chu and FEMA representatives, the agency has so far allocated $135 million in assistance funds, with approximately $40 million designated for housing.
Chu expressed her belief that funding for the Direct Lease program should be accessible through the existing federal disaster allocation established after January’s wildfires.
In pursuit of long-term recovery, she also lent support to the state’s request for an additional $40 billion from Congress and President Trump.
In response to the current situation, a FEMA spokesperson indicated that they continue to believe the Direct Lease program is unnecessary in Los Angeles.
They reported that nearly 3,300 individuals and families have received rental assistance grants since the fires, and over 75% of those who initially sought help have found more sustainable solutions.
“FEMA is coordinating closely with CalOES on program implementation,” the spokesperson added, emphasizing their ongoing assessment of survivor needs to identify any assistance gaps.
After recent media coverage, officials from the Newsom administration indicated they were reconsidering their stance on advocating for the Direct Lease program.
Anita Gore, a spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Services, acknowledged, “We continue to monitor housing needs and are prepared to take further action if conditions change.”
image source from：https://www.latimes.com/homeless-housing/story/2025-05-27/rep-judy-chu-calls-for-fema-to-house-more-eaton-fire-survivors
