Some Altadena residents impacted by the Eaton wildfire could return home in six months, billionaire businessman Rick Caruso said at a technology investment conference Tuesday. That’s likely far sooner than people can go back to the Palisades, which is in the City of L.A.
Caruso, who ran for Los Angeles mayor in 2022, recently founded nonprofit Steadfast LA to help rebuild burned areas in Los Angeles County.
Steadfast LA has partnered with Samara, a prefab homebuilding firm, to replace houses for low-income homeowners in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades started by Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia. Gebbia has promised to donate 100 small, prefab homes for displaced residents, Caruso said.
“We’re going to have people back in these homes — and they’re very, very nice, about 1,000 square feet — and they’ll be in there in probably about six months,” Caruso said on stage at the Montgomery Summit, an annual tech event hosted by March Capital in Santa Monica.
Samara didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Altadena is faring well in the cleanup process, according to Caruso.
“They are cleaning up Altadena because the county filed with the federal government quickly,” Caruso said, “particularly because of Kathryn Barger, the supervisor, [who] was on her game.”
“L.A. city did not [file quickly],” he added. Leaders told him Altadena would be cleaned up by Jan. 8, 2026, a year after the fire.
The timeline for those impacted by the Palisades fires is a lot longer.
“I’m optimistic we’re gonna have a lot of homes starting construction … in a year,” Caruso said. “There’s big chunks of the Palisades that are still fine. So there’s people that will be moving back within a couple of years. There’s going to be massive construction, and it’s going to be a bit of chaos, but it’s going to be good chaos getting it rebuilt. And I think within a couple years we’ll be back.”
Caruso continued previous criticism of the region’s wildfire response, saying he established Steadfast LA because government “is rarely in the business of being innovative, and [having] any sense of urgency and solution-oriented [ideas].”
He added, “If you’re the mayor of the city and you weren’t here to prevent the problem, it’s highly unlikely you’ve got the management skills and capabilities to solve this problem.”
Additional reporting by Abigail Nehring.