Last year’s catastrophic wildfires left Heidi Montag and her husband, Spencer Pratt, without their cherished home.
Now, a year after the tragedy, the couple finds themselves in an uncertain situation regarding their future living arrangements.
Speaking with Gold Derby, Montag, 39, shared that financial constraints have prevented them from rebuilding their house, leaving them “kind of displaced.”
“We simply don’t have the funds to rebuild,” Montag confessed. “Paying the mortgage on that house was already a stretch for us.”
“We dedicated our entire careers to making the down payment. Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to rebuild, and we’re unsure about our next steps. We’re currently in a state of displacement,” she explained.
Montag went on to highlight a widespread issue within the community, noting, “Many others are in the same predicament. People often don’t realize how many can’t afford to rebuild. Numerous families purchased their homes 40 or 50 years ago, back when this part of Los Angeles was far more affordable.”
Heidi Montag says she and her husband Spencer Pratt are unable to afford to rebuild their home after losing it in last year’s wildfires
The loss has inspired Pratt to run for mayor of Los Angeles
‘It’s only recently become this enclave of luxury housing. It was never Beverly Hills before. A lot of these were generational homes that were passed down, and they can’t rebuild.
‘Unfortunately, for us right now, it’s just not looking hopeful.’
The loss has particularly impacted the couple’s youngest son.
She said: ‘The family is doing well. I think it’s really hard for my three-year-old. He keeps asking to go home and I’m like, it’s not there. He says, “I’ll push it back up. I’m strong.”
‘Every animal he sees, he says, their house burned down. So it’s really continuing to affect him a lot.’
Montag previously recalled the rush to leave her house when the fires started and how tough it was to decide what to try and salvage.
Speaking on Good Morning America alongside her husband, she said: ‘Spencer was like, “Grab anything you wanna keep,” and I was like, “How do you choose?” My brain actually stopped working because I was so overwhelmed with so many things you can’t replace. So I grabbed my kids’ teddy bears.
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The couple and their children were among many who lost their homes in last year’s LA wildfires
‘It’s a place that you love, that you live. That’s a refuge from the world and to have that be gone is a really difficult concept to continue dealing with.’
Montag explained that she and Pratt were ‘house poor’ prior to the fire, meaning that they owned their home outright but still had to work to pay for everything else.
She said: ‘We were house poor, as they call it, we have a house and everything else is a hustle, it’s a grind. So, yeah, we’re definitely counting every dollar that we make. We’re working really hard. We take one trip a year.’
The loss has inspired Pratt to run for mayor of Los Angeles.
Pratt announced his campaign on the one-year anniversary of the fires last month at a protest by Palisades residents, called They Let Us Burn!
Pratt has not yet revealed which party he will be running for as mayor
‘The system in Los Angeles isn’t struggling, it’s fundamentally broken. It is a machine designed to protect the people at the top and the friends they exchange favors with while the rest of us drown in toxic smoke and ash,’ Pratt said. ‘Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles, and I’m done waiting for someone to take real action.
‘That’s why I am running for mayor. And let me be clear, this just isn’t a campaign, this is a mission, and we’re gonna expose the system.
‘They intentionally let us burn before, during and after. There was no accountability. It was gross negligence. They let this happen.
‘It wasn’t a natural disaster or something that was unavoidable. It was their fault, and we need the accountability we deserve.’
Pratt did not reveal which party he was running for.
Sharing his venture into politics on social media, The Hills star theatrically held up his signed paperwork to run for LA mayor.
‘The system in Los Angeles isn’t struggling, it’s fundamentally broken. It is a machine designed to protect the people at the top and the friends they exchange favors with,’ he said at the raly
The devastating Pacific Palisades fire destroyed 7,000 homes and businesses in what was one of LA’s most exclusive suburbs, killing 12 people and displacing nearly 100,000 residents. The cost of the wildfire has been put at $28 billion
Beachfront homes along Pacific Coast Highway were destroyed in the blaze; pictured January 15, 2025
Pratt pictured in front of his destroyed home
‘Yes, it’s official. Papers are filed and campaign is open,’ he captioned the post before directing his followers to his campaign website.
Not only was the couple’s residence destroyed, but Pratt’s parents also lost their home to the fire.
Pratt shared a photo of the little that remained of his parent’s house to his Instagram Stories.
‘My parents house gone,’ he wrote along with a string of crying emojis.
Other celebrities to have lost their homes in the fires include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins, Miles Teller, and Leighton Meester.
The devastating Pacific Palisades fire destroyed 7,000 homes and businesses in what was one of LA’s most exclusive suburbs, killing 12 people and displacing nearly 100,000 residents. The cost of the wildfire has been put at $28 billion.
The Pacific Palisades fire — one of the wildfires that struck Los Angeles County in January 2025 — burned for about 31 days before it was contained.
The 2026 Los Angeles Mayoral election will be held on June 2, 2026, Karen Bass is the city’s current mayor.
