When the wildfires that consumed so much of Southern California raged for weeks on end earlier this year, the whole world watched with dismay. All across America, homeowners were thankful it wasn't happening locally, but also likely wondered about the aftermath once the fires were extinguished. 

Could what happened there happen where they were? What about the people who lost their homes? Do they rebuild? At what cost, and how?

Those questions and many more were addressed in a recent webinar highlighting the urgent need for policies supporting recovery and long-term resilience. The Center for California Real Estate (CCRE), an institute of the California Association of REALTORS®, presented “The Road to Recovery: Rebuilding Communities After Wildfires.” Leading experts explored the critical challenges and opportunities of rebuilding after the wildfires.

Bill Fulton, a professor and urban community expert, moderated the discussion, featuring panelists Mayor Steve Crowder of Paradise, California; Laurie Fisher, founder of San Diego-based developer PHNX; and environmental lawyer Jennifer Hernandez. 

The town of Paradise had been ravaged by the devastating Campfire seven years ago, leaving it in ruins. Crowder had seen firsthand the immense challenges of rebuilding a community from the ashes.

"It's been a 20-year process so far," he said. "We lost over half our population, and those who did return faced skyrocketing construction costs and dwindling insurance coverage."

Fisher agreed. "The trauma of losing everything takes a huge toll,” she said. “Survivors are often pressured to rebuild quickly, but that can lead to poor decisions. We have to give them time and support to make the right choices for long-term resilience."

Hernandez pointed out that there were other myriad challenges to overcome. "The regulatory hurdles are immense,” she said. “We have to rethink how we plan and build communities to withstand these new realities of climate change and wildfires. Defensible spaces, fire-resistant materials, evacuation routes...it's a complete overhaul."

Crowder described the bittersweet changes in Paradise; a younger, more diverse population, but the loss of critical services like the local hospital. "We're doing everything we can to be more fire-safe, but the insurance companies don't seem to care,” he said. “They just see the risk and price us out."

As they discussed the tough road ahead for victims of the latest fires, there was agreement that there would be no quick fix. Rebuilding resilient communities would take years of innovation, collaboration and an unwavering commitment to protect the people. But they agreed that if Paradise could do it, there was hope for other fire-ravaged towns to rise from the ashes as well.

Key quotes from panelists

Steve Crowder

• "The long-term for us is home hardening, defensible space, firewise landscape and things that will prevent or at least mitigate this happening again. Another challenge long-term, which didn't start that way, is insurance."
• “Paradise is still a welcoming place for those of us that were here and enjoyed what they had. This community spirit has never left this place."
• "We're not a tract home kind of place. Everything that was built in Paradise was custom built. You might get somebody that buys two lots or three lots and builds, but as far as any tract housing, we're not set up for that.”

Laurie Fisher

• "What also tends to happen whenever there's a tragedy is there's this urgency. We can't innovate because we're in such a hurry."
• "We still build homes the same way we have been for 200 years. Think about the advancements we've made in technology just in the past 30 years. We've got to change, and we've got to innovate."
• "All of these stakeholders need to come together, because nobody builds a house alone. It takes hundreds of people literally over a period of years to come together and build a home. And right now it's incredibly inefficient because everybody's siloed.

Jennifer Hernandez

• "We have created a housing policy catastrophe. We're at $1,000 a square foot for an affordable housing project."
• "We can't pretend that 6% of California's land, which is currently covered with structures and freeways, is enough for almost 40 million people. It was enough for 20 million people."
• "We love open space in our urban areas. We treasure open space at the edges of our communities, but when we build new communities, there are a ton of extremely effective fire prevention and response tools that must be implemented."

To view the full webinar, go here.

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