The Resilient LA Delta Fund will provide Los Angeles homeowners with grants and loans to rebuild their homes that burned in the Palisades and Altadena fires to a resilient wildfire standard.
The Benefit of Rebuilding to be Resilient & Insurable
Los Angeles’s unprecedented Eaton and Palisades fires destroyed nearly 40,000 acres of homes, businesses, and landmarks. The estimated economic loss of the two disasters is $250 billion. Residents and communities are now beginning the long and difficult road to recovery. Traditionally, rebuilding after a catastrophe has entailed reconstructing exactly what was there before. Several factors contributed to this: anti‑fraud requirements in insurance policies and government programs; infrastructure and building codes that failed to keep pace with escalating climate risks; and worries that any modifications in building standards would introduce delays and higher costs. Unfortunately, Los Angeles faces significantly increased (and increasing) wildfire risks. Accordingly, there is now an opportunity and imperative to address the aforementioned factors creatively so that communities can rebuild more safely amidst growing climate risks
Safer rebuilding–including choosing fire-resistant building materials, creating defensible space, and implementing fire-resistant landscaping–will lower future losses, improve local economies, and support stable insurance, housing, and mortgage markets.
What is the “Resiliency Delta”?
Traditional tools for funding and financing rebuilding, such as insurance and our federal aid programs, only pay to rebuild exactly what was there previously and to meet current codes. To create safer communities for our climate future, buildings need to be reconstructed with higher levels of resilience. However, building above code is not typically covered by insurance. This financial difference between what current financing will cover and what is necessary to rebuild to the highest level of safety and damage prevention is what we call the Resiliency Delta.
About the Fund
The Resilient LA Delta Fund is designed to ensure widespread access to the necessary financial resources to rebuild to the highest studied resilience standards and help preserve insurability. We aim for it to ultimately be available to any LA resident impacted by the fires so that all properties can be upgraded to the evidence-based IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home Plus standard. This investment will increase the safety and likelihood of insurability for homeowners and the wider community.
The Fund will be structured as a $250 million blended capital Special Purpose Vehicle with a set of requirements for administering loans. For income-qualifying households there will be direct grants available for property owners. This provides an opportunity for investors from all segments of the capital stack to provide a demonstrated return on investment in high-impact resilience interventions that reduce risk.
The Resilient LA Delta Fund will serve as a template to activate building residential and community resilience at scale. This fund structure and system aims to be repeatable for rebuilding after future disasters.