On top of devastating losses and rebuilding and insurance claim headaches, survivors of the 2025 Los Angeles County firestorms have faced an increasingly existential threat to their communities: large investment firms buying up burned lots, which many worry will forever change the fabric of their treasured neighborhoods.
Many worry that new corporate owners will rebuild in ways that will price out locals, especially in Altadena’s historically Black community, favor short-term rental properties instead of permanent residents and abandon the character that has long defined locally owned homes.
It is an issue that’s been recently elevated by a new bipartisan push to crack down on corporate home buying, which many believe is a major factor in California’s — and the nation’s — dropping homeownership rates. It has been mentioned by both Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Trump as a priority — though neither have yet to put forward specific proposals to do so.
But on Tuesday, California Sen. Adam Schiff said he will be introducing legislation that would limit large corporate investors, such as private equity firms, from purchasing properties after a natural disaster.
The new bill, which Schiff plans to introduce as part of a bipartisan housing package under consideration by Congress, would prohibit institutional investors that own 75 or more single-family homes from making an offer on any property within a disaster area for six months after the major disaster. Because of the timeline, the law would not apply to Altadena or Pacific Palisades, but it would apply to similar areas in future disasters.
In August, about seven months since the Eaton fire devastated Altadena, a group tracking lot sales found that 60% of all property purchases in the fire-damaged area were made by investors, according to the Altadena Not for Sale movement. Since then, the rate of such sales in Altadena has remained relatively constant, according to the group.
An analysis from the third quarter of 2025, which included sales in Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, found slightly lower rates, but still nearly 40% of lots going to investors. Major purchases tied to mystery investors have sparked anger and resentment in Malibu.
“Across the country, Americans have witnessed giant corporate landlords and Wall Street firms buying up droves of lots in the wake of natural disasters with artificially low offers that take advantage of vulnerable families,” Schiff said in a statement. “I’m proud to introduce legislation to help restrict giant corporate investors from purchasing properties in impacted areas. It’s time we crack down on this predatory practice.”
The Altadena Not for Sale movement — which has plastered the community with “Altadena Not for Sale!” signs — has been pushing back on this practice, calling for legislation that would stop the “corporate takeover of disaster-affected communities and protect our neighborhoods from displacement.”
And although the group’s co-founder and lead organizer, Melissa Michelson, said she appreciates Schiff’s effort to address the problem, she doesn’t think it goes far enough.
“Six months is not enough of a breather for people to deal with all the issues and decisions they have to make,” Michelson said. She said she was disappointed that this bill would not provide her community any protections, despite investor sales continuing to happen every week.
“Why now?” she asked. “Why did Adam Schiff wait so long for this?”
In January, the group found that eight companies had bought 76 properties in Altadena, about a quarter of all Altadena properties sold in the first year since the fire.
“Families who can’t afford to rebuild are being replaced by investors who can,” said Lisa Odgie, the chair of the emergency housing and stabilization committee for the Eaton Fire Collaborative, a nonprofit alliance working to help fire survivors. “That is not recovery. That is displacement dressed up as a real estate transaction.”
Michelson and Odgie are part of a growing cohort of community leaders and advocates who are calling for support to keep Altadena in local hands, including community land trusts, land banking initiatives and local nonprofits.
State lawmakers recently introduced measures aimed at curbing the ease and frequency of which investors can buy California homes, including one measure that would limit tax loopholes that large corporations and investment firms often use to buy single-family homes. Another looks to ban investors that own at least 1,000 single-family properties from buying more homes in order to rent them out.
Times staff writers Jack Flemming and Noah Haggerty contributed to this report.
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