One year later, Los Angeles residents continue to face rebuilding challenges: 'Fatigue factor'

More than a year after deadly fires struck Los Angeles, residents are still struggling to rebuild their homes, citing permitting, insurance and financial gaps.

The Palisades and Eaton fires began in January 2025, and destroyed more than 16,000 homes and burned more than 38,000 acres, according to official reports.

The city of Los Angeles has received 3,561 permitting applications and has issued 1,939 permits for 844 unique addresses, as of Feb. 21, according to the LA Strong Return and Rebuild website. The data is updated hourly by the Los Angeles Department of Public Safety, according to the page.

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There are currently 1,189 applications in review and 2,372 plans approved as of Friday.

"Hundreds of homes are already under construction in the Palisades, with over 1,000 permits in the pipeline. That's real progress — but those are people who can," LA District 11 Councilperson Traci Park said in a statement sent to FOX Business. "Thousands of others remain displaced, faced with lingering insurance disputes and lack of access to affordable capital to rebuild. 

Palisades residents such as Michelle Bitting, whose home was destroyed during the fires, say there’s a "fatigue factor" within the ongoing process.

"The minutia of what we had to navigate with just the insurance stuff was exhausting," Bitting told FOX Business. "Just the policy details and sort of understanding all of that stuff."

Bitting said she had a "good experience" with insurance, but they struggled to obtain a permit for their rebuild. She said she and her family were "ahead of the game."

"Our trenches [were] dug, we’ve gone through two rains now, we’ve covered them, they’ve been scooped out again … They’ve been telling us any day now for two months on getting this permit," Bitting said.

Mychal Wilson, a whistleblower attorney and Palisades resident, echoed a similar sentiment regarding the permitting process.

"Permits have been being issued, and it takes anywhere between 30 days to six months, but some of that falls on the homeowner," Wilson said. "You go through the design, and then you say, ‘Well, wait a second. I want to increase the square footage … I think there’s that issue in the permitting process that has delayed stuff.'"

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Wilson said that they decided to expand after the fires. He told FOX Business that they submitted their plans to the city and a "soils report" and, as of Feb. 14, he anticipated that they would have their permits "within two weeks."

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to waive permit fees for residents who were affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires.

The motion, which passed Feb. 3, waives plan check and permit fees "for all structures, regardless of rebuild/repair scale, only up to the amount attributed to 110% of the original footprint."

Part of the motion requests that the city controller establish a "Wildfire Emergency Permit Fee Subsidies, in the General City Purposes" and would "appropriate $10 million from a temporary revolving loan from the Building and Safety Building Permit Enterprise Fund," which would then be repaid with interest.

This resolution waives fees for all structures, including single family homes, duplexes, accessory dwelling units, multifamily dwellings, and commercial properties. 

In an Instagram post, Park thanked the city administrator officer for revisiting the proposal, as it was initially only meant for single-family dwellings.

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"That wasn’t good enough, and we weren’t going to leave our small businesses, our renters, our seniors and our condo complexes, or our families in the mobile home parks behind," Park said in the post.

She said the passing of this motion "[removed] the barriers that are causing so many people the inability to begin the process of rebuilding and returning home."

"Now that recovery reports are in, we're focused on the bigger picture work that will speed up rebuilding," Park continued in the statement.

The current state of rebuilding in the city has drawn scrutiny from the federal government. President Donald Trump issued an executive order mandating the federal government step in to take over rebuilding efforts in Los Angeles.

The executive order, titled "Addressing State and Local Failures to Rebuild Los Angeles After Wildfire Disaster," directs the heads of SBA and FEMA to issue regulations that override California and LA’s permitting requirements, according to previous reporting by Fox News.

Wilson told FOX Business that federal assistance "would be great if they did come in and help out."

"I think it’s great because the federal government, FEMA hasn’t really helped out anyone … and it’s not just on the Palisades, it’s just part of the policy and administration right now," Wilson said. "The problem is it’s FEMA and they’re more worried about the overall big picture, whereas the local government is the one who can really enforce, for example, the permits."

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Park said an upcoming town hall will allow residents to directly weigh in on what should be included in a "long-term recovery plan."

"This has to stay community-driven — and government's job is to clear the path, not stand in the way," Park said.

FOX Business contacted LA Mayor Karen Bass, Gov. Gavin Newsom and gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton's press offices, but did not immediately receive a response.