After the Fire, Home Again: Two Altadena Women Move into Modular ADUs
For more than 30 years, they were neighbors on a quiet cul-de-sac beneath the foothills of Altadena — sharing not just a street, but also a neighborhood. Then the wildfires came, scattering them miles away to separate lives in temporary housing. And yet, in a twist that felt almost too unlikely to be coincidence, they found each other again— neighbors once more, this time in the same apartment complex in Monrovia.
Both had begun the long, uncertain journey of rebuilding. Then came another unexpected turn: each, on her own, was selected to receive a prefabricated ADU, erected on their burned-out lots. At a recent block party filled with old neighbors, new allies and the many nonprofits and foundations who helped carry them through, they stood together again — not just as survivors, but once again as next-door neighbors.
“I’m going to quote my favorite philosopher: as Dorothy says, ‘There’s no place like home,’” said Carolyn Smith, who takes care of her elderly, disabled aunt. “This is the best day I’ve experienced in more than a year. I am beyond excited.”
Ana Robles, a single mother and teacher, teared up as she expressed “overwhelming joy” to be back on her property. “I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart,” she said.
The California Community Foundation awarded the The SoLa Foundation grant writing services to apply for ADU funding, a $50,000 grant writing investment. The SoLa Foundation has worked with Gary Bess Associates to raise $100,000 in additional grant support for the Together We Rebuild initiative which aims to deploy fully furnished ADUs at no cost to Altadena families impacted by the Eaton Fire.
Among The SoLa Foundation’s partners is Greenline Housing, a California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery & Resilience Fund grantee that provides interim housing and case management for families displaced by the Altadena wildfire, including Smith and Robles.
Additional partners supporting these families include JFEDLA, Better Angels, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor and the Los Angeles County Legislative Delegation, Shared Harvest Foundation, the Southern California chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (SoCal NOMA) and MODEL/Z.
“When the fires hit, we thought, what can we do? We’re an affordable housing developer, but we’re also a manufacturing company, so what if we provided our modular units at no cost, for free, to folks in Altadena so that they can live on their property while they rebuild. We’ve learned from our partners and in the community that there’s so much hurt because folks had to leave their community where they’ve been for so, so long,” said Sherri Francois, executive director of The SoLa Foundation, told a crowd of about 50 people before the unveiling of the ADUs.
The steel-framed ADUs were built off-site at Model/Z Factory in Watts, delivered to Altadena and lifted into position by crane. The ADUs were fully furnished and ready for move-in at the celebration.
When Smith first walked through the doors of her new ADU, she gasped. “This is so beautiful,” she said. “Everything I need is here and it’s all so fresh and new.”
Smith is looking forward to watching, day by day, as her home is built—just steps from the ADU where she now lives. She has envisioned every detail: a three-bedroom, two-bath home wrapped in warm tones and a sense of comfort, a space meant not just to be lived in, but feeling like home again.
Robles had a similar reaction when she opened the door of her new ADU. “I am beyond words. It’s a true miracle to be home.”
– Gilien Silsby
