Fifteen months after the Eaton and Palisades fires tore through communities across Los Angeles County, a new survey finds that most fire survivors remain displaced as insurance support and savings are running out.

Two thirds of people who were living in Altadena or Pacific Palisades at the time of the fires are still not back home, according to the survey. Nearly half of all fire survivors have lost or will soon lose their insurance coverage for temporary housing. Among those who experienced a total loss of their home, fewer than 1% have returned — and many who have moved out of temporary housing have done so only by purchasing new homes outside the burn areas.

Additionally, many survivors say the funds keeping them afloat is running out. More than one in five survivors said they have already exhausted their insurance displacement coverage, the highest level recorded since tracking began. Another 16% have less than a year remaining. Among those earning less than $500,000 annually, fewer than one in three believe they can afford to continue paying for housing for more than a year once their coverage ends.

For lower-income survivors, the challenges are daunting. Among those earning under $50,000 annually, just 23% said they could afford temporary housing for more than three months after their coverage runs out.

The “Community Voices: LA Fire Recovery Report,” was released earlier this month by the Department of Angels and conducted by Embold Research. It represents the fifth quarterly survey of Eaton and Palisades fire survivors. The 15-month survey, based on responses from more than 2,000 fire survivors across all impacted communities, found that the financial outlook is increasingly untenable for survivors.

“Two out of three survivors are still not home, and this is no longer about short-term disruption,” said Miguel A. Santana, president and CEO of the California Community Foundation and co-founder of the Department of Angels. “This is actually prolonged displacement. So, that’s really the fundamental issue – people have been living with uncertainty now for about 500 days.”

The cost gap between what insurance covers and what rebuilding actually requires has emerged as the largest obstacle to recovery. Homeowners estimate they would need approximately $660,000 on average above what insurance is expected to provide — with a median gap of $500,000. For those who lost their homes entirely, the average rises to roughly $850,000. Survivors insured through the California FAIR Plan face the steepest shortfall, estimating they would need over $1.35 million to rebuild — more than $500,000 above the average for any other insurer.

Renters have not been spared. The average tenant reports needing nearly $250,000 beyond their insurance payouts to cover lost belongings and temporary housing costs. Many reported losing not just personal items but entire home offices and work supplies, while simultaneously facing rising rents.

Nearly half of all survivors have depleted significant portions of their savings, and more than four in 10 have taken on new debt. The median debt load among those who borrowed is just over $100,000 — with nearly one in three total-loss survivors taking on $250,000 or more.

“I have maxed out all of my credit cards and borrowed money from my friends,” said an Altadena fire survivor, who is a single mother of twins with special needs. “I have gone through every bit of savings that I ever had. All of that, and my short-term rental is now up and I have to move the kids again. … I doubt that I will ever recover from this. I did the best I could to get by every day. And now I feel like I’m barely surviving.”

There are some signs of progress. Soil testing has increased sharply, with 47% of total-loss survivors now having had their soil tested, up from 33% in December. Rates of completed remediation have risen from 44% to 51% among those with detected contamination. Mental health indicators, while still severe — 74% of survivors say their mental health is worse than before the fires — have improved from a December peak when the figure hit 83%.

And nearly 8 in 10 have taken at least one action to shape the recovery, from attending town halls to contacting elected officials to joining community coalitions.

More than 70% of survivors whose homes were damaged or destroyed plan to rebuild, repair, or remediate — though 26% say they will only do so if they can find a financially viable path forward. But 20% percent remain undecided, a figure that is higher among lower-income households.

The survey also found major racial disparities in recovery outcomes. Latino and Black survivors are disproportionately experiencing food insecurity, homelessness and missed mortgage or utility payments, the survey found. Twenty-two percent of Latino survivors and 18% of African Americans reported cutting back on food, compared to just 7% of white survivors.

“There are so many people, and the data clearly shows us, that are literally struggling to survive,” Santana recently told journalist Kate Cagle with the LA Times Studios “Rebuilding L.A.” podcast. “There are people today who are unhoused as a result of the fire, and that number is going to grow. It’s really based on where you were before the fire started – how much resources you had, what kind of network you had. That really is what’s telling the tale of two cities of how the recovery is going.”

Survivors’ frustration with government at every level, the survey shows. Only 17% express satisfaction with the federal response, while 44% say they are “very dissatisfied.” Satisfaction with state and local governments is similarly low: just 14% approve of the state response and 12% of their city’s response.

Most survivors have received little or no meaningful government assistance. Fifty-nine percent have received no FEMA support beyond the initial standard $770 payment. Nearly two thirds have not received any SBA disaster loans. Three quarters have received no city- or county-specific recovery or housing assistance.

By comparison, 60% of survivors have received support from philanthropic organizations, and half from local nonprofits and community groups – the entities survivors rate most highly of any institution measured.

“We owe it to survivors to continue to work toward their full recovery,” said Evan Spiegel, co-founder of the Department of Angels. “Los Angeles has always been a place defined by resilience and reinvention, but recovery doesn’t happen on its own. As financial pressures deepen, the promise of coming home is becoming harder for survivors to hold onto. Helping them get there is on all of us.”

Santana said the quarterly survey reflects the core mission of the Department of Angels to center survivors’ voices in the recovery.

“It’s very important to Evan and I that what grounds this work is the lived experience. It’s really survivors connecting with other survivors that makes all the difference in the world,” he said.

The Department of Angels is calling on policymakers to prioritize emergency and long-term housing solutions, the release of federal disaster recovery funds, insurance reform, and science-based environmental cleanup. Survivors surveyed most frequently cited federal tax relief, direct rebuilding grants, and mortgage or rent relief as the types of assistance that would make the biggest difference in their recovery.

“For many survivors, the price tag to full recovery comes in the hundreds of thousands – that is simply out of reach for too many,” Santana said. “Not recovering is not an option. Too much is at stake for these families and for our region.”

– Ben Poston