By Rachel Lampert
Southern California has just experienced some of the most catastrophic wildfires causing areas within Los Angeles County to ruin. Streets, businesses, homes, and the individuals who have lost their lives result in dealing with the devastating aftermath of these conditions. As there have been several fires throughout Los Angeles. LAist – Marisa Kendall | CAL Matters “And when a community loses thousands of homes at once when they already have a housing shortage, prices go up across the board, displacing even more people.”
In addition, several crucial factors come into play such as climate change. The fires have brought tremendous winds and drastic weather that has impacted people all over Southern California. Matt Plotkin was part of the team that led recovery efforts at CampFire, located in Butte County, back in 2018. He was the head of the CampFire Collaborative, before becoming the director of equity and advocacy for United Way of Northern California. Plotkin says. “…dealing with people being now, unfortunately, chronically houseless due to the Camp. Fire…” During the 2017 ‘Tubs Fire’ in Sonoma and Napa counties in Northern California’s wine country. The outcome was seeing lots of individuals face homelessness around a year and a half after the fire occurred. Jennielynn Holmes – a victim of the Eaton Fire said. “…So with already a crazy amount of people experiencing homelessness, particularly in Southern California, and now you add on potentially tens of thousands more.”
If you are in an evacuation zone please call the Federal Emergency Management Agency (1 (800) 621-3362 to file a claim or to seek various resources.
References:
Kendall, M. (2025, January 15). “The crisis is here”: LA fires could exacerbate California’s homelessness problem.KQED. https://www.kqed.org/news/12022439/the-crisis-is-here-la-fires-could-exacerbate-californias-homelessness-problem