More than 100 Eaton Fire survivors, residents, workers, faith leaders and community advocates boarded buses in Pasadena Tuesday morning bound for Sacramento, where they plan to press state lawmakers for a $25 million rebuilding fund before this year's budget window closes. The send-off began at 9 a.m. at 500 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena, with five fire survivors expected to speak before the group departed for the state capitol.
The trip is organized by the Dena Rise Up coalition, which is seeking $25 million for the proposed Community Aid for Rebuilding and Equity Fund, according to Pasadena Now. Known as the CARE Fund, the proposal would provide rebuilding assistance for lower-income homeowners and preserve affordable housing opportunities for displaced renters and working families. State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) introduced the fund proposal, which also includes land-banking initiatives meant to keep affordable housing intact in Altadena, as reported by Colorado Boulevard.
Florence Annang, one of the survivors involved in the push, put the stakes plainly: “Recovery cannot be measured by promises. It must be measured by whether families can come home,” she said, per the same account from Pasadena Now. The coalition's roster of participating groups is extensive, spanning My Tribe Rise, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, the Eaton Fire Collaborative, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, End Child Poverty CA, Catalyst CA, the Pasadena Community Job Center, POP, LA Voice, the NAACP Pasadena Branch, EFRU and Black Power Net.
The Scale of the Damage Behind the Push
The Eaton Fire ignited near Altadena Drive and Midwick Drive on the evening of January 7, 2025, and ultimately burned 14,021 acres before it was fully contained, according to Cal Fire incident totals cited by Pasadena Now. The blaze destroyed 9,419 structures and damaged another 1,076, and it caused 19 civilian deaths — with state data showing the average age of those who died was 77, underscoring how heavily the disaster fell on elderly residents.
Heavenly Hughes, executive director of My Tribe Rise, and Vlad Carrasco, climate justice director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, are both expected to speak at the Pasadena event. Once in Sacramento, coalition members plan meetings with state legislators and administration officials, then depart for advocacy at the state capitol at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday. A second news conference is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday at Governor's Mansion State Historic Park at 1526 H St., with media check-in set for 8:30 a.m.
Grants Versus Loans: The Core Divide
The advocacy trip lands amid a broader standoff between two very different state approaches to fire recovery funding. Governor Gavin Newsom's separate $100 million Disaster Rebuilding Fund, announced in May and included in his revised 2026-27 budget, would help homeowners secure construction loans by reducing borrowing costs and providing access to low-interest loans when insurance and other aid fall short. But that fund is structured as an interest-rate buy-down and loan-loss guarantee program, not a source of direct cash grants, according to the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce.
That distinction matters for lower-income and elderly survivors who advocates say cannot take on more debt. A May 2026 survey of more than 2,000 fire survivors by the disaster recovery nonprofit Department of Angels, cited by The Real Deal, found that Altadena homeowners face an average rebuilding shortfall of roughly $550,000 above their insurance payouts. The same survey found nearly 40% of Eaton and Palisades fire survivors had exhausted or were close to exhausting their temporary housing insurance benefits, while more than two-thirds remained displaced, as detailed in a related report from Pasadena Now.
Other Aid Efforts Underway Locally
Local philanthropy has stepped in alongside the state advocacy. In July, the nonprofit Altadena Land Initiatives Corporation launched a zero-interest Gap Rebuild Program backed by a $4 million investment from the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, offering construction gap loans whose repayment is deferred until property sales, refinancing, or Southern California Edison legal settlements occur, according to a separate Pasadena Now report. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors also unanimously approved a $1 million Altadena Soil Remediation Program in July to help survivors test for and remove lead contamination from residential lots, per the county's own account.
Beyond the state budget request, the Dena Rise Up coalition has also lobbied for three pending reform bills in Sacramento: AB 1642, which would mandate post-fire environmental contamination testing standards; SB 878, which would impose a 20% interest penalty on delayed insurance payouts; and SB 1301, which would require six months' notice before insurance non-renewals, as reported by The Cool Down. Separately, the coalition has endorsed an Urgent Housing Relief Proposal calling on Southern California Edison to advance up to $200,000 to each displaced household, even as the utility continues to face litigation, including a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed in September 2025 alleging Edison bore responsibility for the blaze.
Federal aid has also expanded in recent months: in June, federal officials approved a state request to extend FEMA's Individuals and Households Program, continuing direct housing and financial assistance for displaced LA County wildfire survivors, according to the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Whether that federal extension, Newsom's loan-based fund, or the survivors' push for direct CARE Fund grants ultimately closes Altadena's rebuilding gap remains an open question as the state budget deadline approaches.
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