Keeping Altadena Lands in Altadena Hands - by Doug Smith

How an equitable community land banking strategy can create the conditions for self-determination, community ownership, and a just recovery in Altadena

In Altadena, the fire’s embers have been extinguished, but a new threat is spreading. In order to stave off an impending land grab and community displacement, state and local leaders must act quickly to establish a community land banking strategy. 

An equitable community land banking strategy can: (1) clamp down on predatory unsolicited offers, (2) give community-based entities a first right to purchase and hold property, and (3) fund and empower one or more Altadena Community Land Bank (ACLB) entities to acquire and hold properties for eventual community stewardship. If done right, this community land banking strategy will make time for the Altadena community to exercise its right to self-determination, recreate generational wealth, and pursue new models of community ownership.

As if the widespread physical destruction of the Eaton fire wasn’t devastating enough, Altadena now faces an imminent threat to the families and businesses that built the community over generations and their rich cultural history. As the dust and ash settle, real estate speculators are beginning to circle, positioning themselves to buy up distressed properties from fire victims who are currently overwhelmed by the overlapping hardships of bureaucratic hurdles, financial burdens, and the trauma of destruction, displacement and profound loss. 

Wall Street real estate investment vehicles stand to gain enormous profits by acquiring properties from owners who are unable to meet the costs of rebuilding or who are otherwise vulnerable to being induced into selling. Like clockwork, many Altadena residents reported receiving unsolicited calls and text messages from realtors offering to buy their property almost immediately after the fires. The more successful these tactics are, the more residents fear the community will lose its unique assets and culture. This impending displacement only exacerbates an already disproportionate impact on Black families who built generational wealth and created a sanctuary in Altadena after being redlined out of other parts of the region.

Sadly, this risk is nothing new. Outside investors often swoop in to buy distressed properties after major disasters. These land grabs usually only bring more harm to vulnerable communities already reeling from disaster. 

Fortunately, there is reason to be optimistic that Altadena can chart a different course. But the clock is ticking.

Residents have adamantly declared that “Altadena is Not for Sale.” Local organizers and community leaders are creating spaces to both grieve the loss and imagine the future. Greenline Housing Foundation is already working to acquire and temporarily steward land until a community-driven plan is in place, offering a community-based option for those who decide to sell their property. 

There are also emergent models and lessons from other communities’ efforts to prevent speculative loss and promote community ownership and resiliency in the wake of disaster. After the fires in Lahaina, residents formed the Lahaina Community Land Trust to purchase and hold properties for community ownership, to “keep Lahaina lands in Lahaina hands.” Similarly, the Florida Keys Community Land Trust was created by local residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma to prevent properties from being flipped. The Houston Community Land Trust – the nation’s largest city-funded CLT – was formed after Hurricane Harvey and now incorporates climate resiliency measures in its strategy.   

Buoyed by local leadership and lessons from other disaster-stricken communities, a community land banking model is beginning to crystalize. If leaders act fast, the following interconnected policies could effectively hold property off the speculative market in order to create the time and space for Altadena self-determination and community ownership. 

To give the Altadena community a chance to return and rebuild, state and local leaders should take the following actions:

1. Prevent predatory unsolicited offers. 

Governor Newsom issued an executive order prohibiting unsolicited offers to purchase properties for an amount below the pre-fire fair market value for a period of three months. This is a good start, but the policy can be stronger. In the wake of the fires that ravaged Lahaina in 2023, Hawaii’s governor issued an order that prohibited any unsolicited offer, regardless of price, and this prohibition has been extended for more than a year following the disaster. In order to give victims the breathing room to mourn and plan for the future, Governor Newsom’s executive order should be strengthened to prohibit any unsolicited offers regardless of price for an extended period of time, and resources should be devoted to monitoring and enforcing this order. 

2. Establish a community opportunity to purchase law. 

A Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA) is a law that gives qualified community organizations – like community land trusts, land banks, or other mission-driven entities – an opportunity to purchase properties before the broader private market, as means of keeping property under community stewardship. The Los Angeles Community Land Trust Coalition and the California Community Land Trust Network have called for a community opportunity to purchase law for fire zones. In February, Senator Sasha Renée Pérez introduced California Senate Bill 658 to provide qualified organizations with the first right to purchase and hold residential and commercial properties impacted by the Eaton fire. If this bill passes, government entities or nonprofits that meet certain criteria – like having a track record building or preserving affordable housing – will be better positioned to acquire Altadena properties that go for sale, allowing the land to stay in local hands and creating time for community oversight.  

3. Create and fund Altadena Community Land Bank(s). 

Ultimately, a community opportunity to purchase law is only effective if there are community-centered organizations with the resources and capacity to compete with outside investors. A well-resourced Altadena Community Land Bank (ACLB) program – with one or multiple entities coordinating acquisition efforts -- could serve this function. 

A Land Bank is a public or nonprofit entity empowered to acquire and temporarily hold properties until they can be transferred to new responsible owners and developed according to community goals. Luckily, we already have multiple entities positioned to contribute to an Altadena Community Land Bank program. 

First, Greenline Housing Foundation - a local nonprofit -  has already stepped up  to acquire and steward Altadena property until long-term community-driven plans are created. 

There is also an existing L.A. County Land Bank Pilot that is currently empowered to acquire, hold, and manage properties for eventual affordable housing development. My organization, Inclusive Action for the City, administers this Land Bank Pilot in partnership with the County.  Although this pilot project isn’t directly focused on Altadena preservation needs, we think the the Land Bank Pilot’s existing  framework, cross-department collaboration, and efficiencies could be leveraged to add a new Altadena-specific public Land Bank entity that could be funded and empowered to purchase, hold, and manage properties in Altadena to prevent those properties from being sold on the speculative market. 

Whatever specific form the ACLB program takes, it should include the following features: 

• Provide owners who wish to sell an option to make sure the property stays in community control; 
• Provide property owners who wish to return with additional tools to rebuild and sustain generational wealth; 
• Enable renters to return at affordable prices;  
• Provide small businesses and nonprofits an opportunity to return and rebuild their business; 
• Access flexible funding to acquire sites without restrictions on innovative strategies that serve the most vulnerable; and, most importantly, 
• Be accountable to meaningful Altadena community oversight and direction.

4. Follow Altadena’s lead.

The steps described above are not about dictating the use of the land in Altadena. Things like scale, affordability, density, remediation, rebuilding standards, climate resiliency, environmental protections – these are all critical components of a planning process that should be led by Altadena residents and leaders, informed by traditional ecological knowledge. But the reality is these conversations could be a ways off, as most are still navigating bureaucracy, wading through reams of FEMA and insurance paperwork, searching for temporary housing, schools and childcare, and mourning the loss of their homes and the destruction of their community.

Rebuilding conversations need to be led by the community, on the timeline that works for the community. At the same time, speculators are at the door – as of early March, over 30 burned lots in Altadena had already been listed for sale – forcing an urgency that community members may not be ready for. A community land bank strategy can help buy time to prepare for rebuilding strategies that are better aligned with the community’s needs and timeline. In other words, community land banking is needed now, so that the Altadena community’s equitable rebuilding planning can take the time that they need. For this sequence to work, a community land banking program must be carefully crafted with the restraint to avoid prescribing future uses before a community planning process can occur, and with formal accountability to community oversight and direction.

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Hopefully, everyone who wants to return and rebuild in Altadena will have the resources and support to do so, and predatory tactics will be kept at bay. But for those who decide to sell their property, an equitable community land banking program can make sure those properties stay in community hands, and that local residents and leaders will be able to shape how those properties are rebuilt to meet the needs and priorities of the Altadena community. We don’t have to let one disaster produce another. We can chart a different course and prioritize community ownership as a cornerstone of a just recovery. 

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Doug Smith is Vice President of Policy and Legal Strategy at Inclusive Action for the City and an Assistant Professor at Occidental College.