California directed nearly $369 million in federal wildfire recovery aid to low-income housing developers without requiring them to house a single wildfire survivor, according to a California Post investigation.
The massive allocation came as thousands of Californians struggled to rebuild after the state’s deadliest wildfire year. The 2018 fires killed 103 people and damaged or destroyed more than 24,000 structures.
Among those still trying to recover is Mickey Schechter, a 62-year-old motivational speaker and comedian. The Woolsey Fire destroyed his home in Cornell, along with $60,000 worth of plumbing tools, as it swept through the Santa Monica Mountains and destroyed 37 homes in his community.
Nearly eight years later, Schechter remains in a cramped, 350-square-foot guesthouse that survived the blaze. He says he cannot afford the estimated $2 million cost of rebuilding his home.
Schechter said he was furious when he learned that a significant share of the federal recovery money had been directed elsewhere.
“That’s our money. We’re the ones that suffer for it. Give us our damn money. That’s bulls—t. I’m pissed,” Schechter told the California Post.
“Now I wanna know how can I possibly get money from that grant?” he said.
“That’s not your money. That’s our money.”
The federal government allocated more than $1 billion to California to support recovery from the 2018 wildfires. The funding covered disasters including the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people in Paradise, and the Woolsey Fire, which devastated communities north of Los Angeles.
The Woolsey Fire killed three people, destroyed 1,643 structures and caused more than $6 billion in damage.
The $1,017,399,000 grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was intended to pay for recovery costs not covered by insurance or other forms of assistance.
California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) administers the money, splitting it between homeowner rebuilding assistance and affordable rental housing projects in communities affected by the fires.
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Of the $222.4 million set aside for homeowners, only $38 million had been spent rebuilding 110 homes by the end of 2023, according to state records. The Camp Fire alone destroyed 14,000 homes.
By comparison, developers received $368.7 million for low-income housing projects, with no requirement that the resulting apartments house wildfire survivors.
In a funding round last year, the state awarded $146.9 million to 14 developments stretching from Santa Cruz to Covina. Together, the projects were valued at $632 million, or roughly $754,000 per apartment.
HCD could not say how many wildfire survivors, if any, live in those apartments.
Meanwhile, Schechter says he has been left to cope with a devastating financial burden.
He said the county charged approximately $178,000 for debris removal, while he has spent another $300,000 maintaining the property.
His insurance covered only $450,000 of the $750,000 home’s value, even though Schechter estimates rebuilding it would now cost $2 million.
State rebuilding assistance was limited to low- and moderate-income homeowners, and insurance payouts reduced applicants’ eligibility. Schechter says he never received the help he needed.
The Woolsey Fire recovery program provides a stark example of how developers secured millions as survivors like Schechter struggled to rebuild.
In July 2024, California offered $26.7 million in Woolsey Fire recovery funds. Only one developer applied.
Rancho Cucamonga nonprofit National CORE proposed an 81-unit apartment complex in Agoura Hills, scoring just 90 points, barely above the 88-point minimum and the lowest among projects funded that round. Others scored as high as 117.
National CORE secured nearly the entire pot, $26.1 million, despite no requirement to house a single Woolsey Fire survivor.
The project’s location has also raised questions about evacuation routes in the fire-prone Santa Monica Mountains.
The apartments are just miles away from last week’s Bryson Fire that sent residents scrambling to evacuate, reigniting fears that adding more housing along one of only two major escape routes could turn an already dangerous bottleneck into a death trap.
“They are building apartments on the only way we can get out of here,” Schechter told the California Post. “During the Woolsey Fire, people were sitting in their cars for two hours trying to get out.
“With all these extra people, people will die.”
The project shrank to 54 units after officials denied a density bonus, but its $26.1 million award remained untouched, including $484,000 in federal disaster aid.
Agoura Hills officials said they had no say in the project or its multimillion-dollar funding award.
“The City did not have any role in selecting the project, the site, or the funding amount,” Community Development Director Robby Nesovic told the California Post.
HCD defended the spending, arguing that new apartments replace homes lost to the fires.
Displaced renters “generally choose to move to another existing rental housing unit,” spokeswoman Jennifer Hanson said.
But developers aren’t required to house fire survivors, who are instead grouped with Section 8 tenants as “least likely to apply” and targeted only through advertising.
State rules prohibit residency-based preferences, citing fair-housing laws. HCD wouldn’t say whether it considered prioritizing fire survivors.
Hundreds of miles north, officials in Butte County, where the Camp Fire leveled Paradise, said they were also shut out of the funding decisions.
“The County had no role in selecting these projects nor their funding amounts,” Deputy County Counsel Andrea Woodward-Sollesnes told the California Post.
Eaglepointe Apartments opened in Paradise last year with $7.3 million in disaster aid. Just seven of its 42 units, or one in six, went to Camp Fire survivors, according to local news reports.
Butte County has identified about 1,200 emails about the projects and is reviewing them for release under a public records request.
HUD, which approved California’s recovery plans and oversees the money, did not respond to the California Post’s request for comment.
