Senate Bill that would have turned lost Pacific Palisades homes into affordable housing put on pause

Turning burned land into affordable housing

A controversial Senate Bill that could bring more affordable housing homes to Pacific Palisades has been put on pause.

A controversial Senate bill that could bring more affordable housing to Pacific Palisades has been put on pause.

State Senator Ben Allen sent out a written statement on Wednesday evening addressing the issue.

"I appreciate the input of the folks who have weighed in about the bill, and along with legislative colleagues have decided that it would be best for us to pause the bill until next year to give us more time to see if we can get it right," said Sen. Allen. "For me to feel comfortable proceeding, the bill will have to be deeply grounded in community input, empowerment, and decision-making, including the support of the impacted councilmembers."

The controversial Senate Bill 549 was approved by the California Senate. However, many people in Pacific Palisades have been strongly voicing their concerns.

"It does sound quite a bit like Big Brother deciding what’s good for all of us," said Aileen Haugh, a resident. "It’s irritating to think that other people [not local residents] are going to make decisions of what gets built and how it gets built."

In its most simply described meaning, SB 549 would allow Los Angeles County to make a so-called "Resilient Rebuilding Authority." The group would target housing shortages and issues with rebuilding from the Palisades Fire. It would also buy fire-destroyed lots and rebuild a percentage of them for low-income housing units.

"We had some low-income housing, and we had affordable housing," said Jessica Rogers. "We want what we had on January 7 [the day of the Palisades Fire]. Nothing more, nothing less."

Rogers is president of the Pacific Palisades Residents’ Association. When she heard about the new possible law, Rogers wrote a letter voicing opposition to lawmakers. In less than a week, more than 23,000 locals have signed along with the resistance.

"[Lawmakers are] asking for a land grab," said Rogers. "This is a rebuild, this is not a politicians get to decide a pet project on what they’re going to decide in the Palisades. This is residents of this community get to decide what happens in our rebuild phase, period."

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass sent a letter to State Senator Allen expressing her opposition to SB 549. Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted Wednesday that, "The claim that the Governor wants to bulldoze fire victims’ neighborhoods and replace them with ‘affordable housing’ is absurd…"

While the bill is now paused until 2026, many residents are still watching it closely.

"Other than bringing us safety, and fire safety, we don’t want anything else," said Rogers. "Give us our homes back and protect us from fire."