Months after devastating wildfires wreaked havoc across communities in Southern California, thousands are still without homes as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has reportedly shown no urgency to rebuild.
Cal Fire reported that more than 12,000 homes, businesses and schools have been lost to the fires and more than 100,000 people have had to leave their homes since the January fires.
So far, only 23 permits for 16 addresses have been approved to rebuild homes destroyed or damaged in the wealthy enclave of Pacific Palisades, City of Los Angeles officials told Fox News Digital.
“The first rebuilding permit was issued on March 5, 2025, by the LA Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) – 57 days after the start of the Palisades Fire and more than twice as fast as permits were issued after the devastating Camp and Woolsey fires,” city officials said.
LOS ANGELES ISSUES ONLY 4 PERMITS TO REBUILD HOMES AFTER DEVASTATING PALISADES FIRE: REPORT
As of April 22, LADBS said it had received 192 permit applications related to significant fire damage repair or reconstruction at 156 unique addresses in the Palisades, where a total of 5,619 structures, including 5,495 residential homes, were damaged or destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
“Mayor Bass has worked to expedite the rebuilding process so that, when property owners are ready, LADBS can issue permits as quickly as possible,” city officials said.
President Donald Trump declared the wildfires a national emergency after he visited the Golden State to survey the damage just four days after his inauguration.
During his visit, Trump sat down for a roundtable with Bass and state officials, at one point even criticizing Bass for not using her emergency powers to respond to the wildfires.
“You have emergency powers just like I do … you have to exercise them also,” Trump told Bass, who responded that she did exercise them.
Trump then vowed to sign an executive order to open up the water valves in the area.
LA MAYOR BASS POINTS FINGERS WHEN GRILLED ON AFRICA TRIP AMID BOTCHED WILDFIRE RESPONSE
“I don’t think you can realize how rough, how devastating it is until you see it,” Trump said of the wildfire damage. “The federal government is standing behind you, 100%.”
Trump added that he would waive federal permits for rebuilding in the area.
“I’m going to be the president to help you fix it,” he said. “We’re going to waive all federal permits. … Because a federal permit can take 10 years … we don’t want to take 10 days.”
Under Bass’s Executive Order 1, issued less than a week after the wildfires, officials said Bass cut red tape and “directed City departments to complete permitting review in 30 days or less for rebuilding homes as they were.”
“LADBS is currently completing plan check review in about 6 days – 2x faster than before the wildfires. Mayor Bass also directed the creation of the One-Stop Rebuilding Center as a centralized resource for residents and business owners to access everything they need from the city to rebuild,” city officials said.
Bass’ office referred questions to LADBS.
California Assembly Leader James Gallagher told Fox News Digital that Trump has upheld his end of the bargain for cleanup efforts, yet California politicians have failed to deliver.
“When President Trump came to L.A. in January, he vowed to remove the red tape and asked California politicians to do the same. He followed with the fastest debris cleanup we have ever seen, but California hasn’t met its end of the bargain,” Gallagher said.
“Permits are slow, and the bureaucracy is fat. [Gov.] Gavin Newsom and Democrats can’t get out of their own way and deliver for fire victims,” he continued.
Malibu real estate agent and lifelong resident of the area Liz Benichou told Fox News Digital that she is “not surprised” that little progress has been made since the fires.
“Only 55 homes have been rebuilt since the Woolsey fire in Malibu, and that was in 2018,” Benichou said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital that the City of Los Angeles is “responsible for and has legal jurisdiction for reviewing and approving permits for homes in the Pacific Palisades,” adding that the state “has no formal role in the local permitting processes.”
The governor’s office added that what the state has been doing “since the immediate days after the fire ignited is removing barriers and cutting red tape that stand in the way of homeowners being able to rebuild quickly and safely.”
Newsom’s office said he has taken a series of “aggressive action to aid homeowners in navigating the recovery process,” which include the following actions:
After the fires broke out, Trump blamed Newsom and Democrat city policies for the damage, citing their forest and water management policies.
Trump had initially threatened to withhold wildfire aid until certain stipulations were met in California, including changes to water policy.
In February, Newsom traveled to the White House to push for increased federal funding for recovery efforts and said he and Trump had a “very productive meeting.”
“As we approach one month since the devastating wildfires across Southern California, we continue to cut red tape to speed up recovery and clean-up efforts as well as ensure rebuilding efforts are swift,” Newsom said in a previous statement. “We’re working across the aisle, as we always have, to ensure survivors have the resources and support they need.”
“The Governor expressed his appreciation for the Trump Administration’s early collaboration and specifically thanked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for his agency’s swift action, including over 1,000 personnel on the ground focused on debris removal,” Newsom’s office added in a statement.
Trump declared that his administration was “looking to get something completed. And the way you get it completed is to work together.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House.
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady, Anders Hagstrom and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
