Hudson Idov’s personal tragedy drove his decision about where to attend college after his Los Angeles house burned down in the Palisades fire his senior year of high school.
Less than a week after graduation, he and one of his classmates enrolled in the carpentry program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College with the goal of starting a construction company one day and helping rebuild Pacific Palisades. “We have big, big 10-year plans,” he said during a break in his morning class.
Idov also considers it wise to pursue a high-demand job, especially now. Before the Palisades and Eaton fires last year, Los Angeles was already short roughly 70,000 qualified construction workers. The destruction of thousands of homes and businesses during the fires made that problem even worse. The city now needs over 100,000 new workers in construction and construction-related careers, according to one state analysis, which estimates median pay at just under $30 an hour, though it varies depending on the position and the level of experience.
Last year, the state awarded five Los Angeles community colleges a total of $5 million to train more workers who can help rebuild. The money recently arrived at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where it will fund supplies and new curricula for students who are entering the construction industry. Pasadena City College is using part of the money to build a 55,000-square-foot center for construction training.
“We can’t put out enough people,” said Jaime Alvarez, one of Idov’s carpentry instructors, as students hammered, sawed and drilled all around him. This semester, Alvarez has about 30 students. The four-semester carpentry program at the technical college is probably the largest such program in the state, enrolling over 1,800 people a year.
Rebuilding the foundation of the Palisades
Idov still lives in an Airbnb with the few belongings he grabbed on the night he evacuated his home.
Most days, he starts school at 7 a.m and finishes around noon. He normally spends the afternoons working part-time for a general contractor. The carpentry program takes about two years to complete, roughly 25 hours a week. This semester, he’s learning how to build concrete foundations, how to drill rebar into those foundations and to construct the frame of a building — work that’s particularly needed in fire-damaged parts of Los Angeles.
The extreme heat from fires doesn’t just burn down wood; it also makes concrete foundations brittle and unstable, Alvarez said. His course has to be sparing with its use of concrete, though, since it’s expensive.
Although the college’s construction, maintenance and utilities programs have a total annual budget of more than $10 million, most of the money goes to staff salaries, leaving just over $575,000 for many of the supplies students use, said Abigail Patton, the vice president of academic affairs. She said the state grant for fire recovery will help supplement supply costs.
Although the state funding is helping, other money recently fell through. In 2024, Los Angeles Trade-Tech was one of the recipients of a $20-million federal grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. The college was set to receive $2 million through that grant, part of which went to the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, an economic development organization based in South Los Angeles.
The money was supposed to support the college’s construction programs, where students would learn about home weatherization, lead abatement and residential energy audits. The federal agency disbursed just over $88,000 of the grant to the Coalition for Responsible Community Development before suddenly canceling it in May last year after President Trump took office. Environmental justice groups filed a lawsuit appealing the Trump administration’s decision.
The Coalition for Responsible Community Development declined to comment about the grant, but the Environmental Protection Agency was unsparing in its remarks. “Maybe the Biden-Harris Administration shouldn’t have forced its radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and ‘environmental justice’ priorities on the EPA’s core mission,” said Brigit Hirsch, press secretary for the department, in an email.
‘It’s not all fun and games’
Some short-term community college certificates in construction can lead to high-paying jobs, including some that pay over $40 an hour. Many of Los Angeles Trade-Tech’s programs, including carpentry, electrical maintenance and welding, are popular and often at capacity.
But students who enroll rarely graduate. Ultimately, about 33% of students who started at Los Angeles Trade-Tech’s construction, maintenance and utilities programs got a certificate, degree or transferred to a university within four years, according to the college’s data from students who started in 2021. Low graduation rates are typical for most community colleges. Many students, especially low-income students, struggle to manage the demands of school along with caring for children or aging parents and working full- or part-time jobs.
“We get floods of students that want to do this, and I say it’s not all fun and games in terms of swinging a hammer,” said Nicole Jordan, who teaches the first semester in the carpentry program. “We do a lot of math and a lot of book work.” Before Jordan’s students start building anything, they have to study blueprints and Los Angeles building codes so they know what is possible and legally required.
Still, there’s a sense of community among the students, who vary in age and ethnic background. To help them get through it, Jordan’s first semester students have a cheer. “We the best,” one student yells as they sit in a classroom. “Carpentry,” responds everyone in unison.
After the cheer, Jordan walks up to the white board and the class settles down. She sketches out the blueprint of a home. If they stick around, the students will build that home in just four semesters.
Echelman writes for CalMatters. This article was distributed through a partnership with the Associated Press.
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