How Mortgage Lenders Are Impeding Californians From Rebuilding Fire-Torn LA

Commentary: California’s proposed ban on plants near homes could be dangerously bad advice

One of the most striking patterns in the aftermath of many urban fires is how much unburned green vegetation remains amid the wreckage of burned neighborhoods.

How home lenders are impeding Californians from rebuilding fire-torn L.A.

Like thousands of other families, in January we lost our Pacific Palisades home to wildfire. Within minutes, every house on our side of the street was reduced to ashes, while those across the street were left untouched. Five months later, the harsh realities of recovery have set in. We are entangled in a bureaucratic maze: FEMA, the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, IRS and a patchwork of state and local agencies. Our home was covered by two insuran…

How mortgage lenders are impeding Californians from rebuilding fire-torn LA

Guest Commentary written by Robert Kaplan Robert Kaplan is a senior scholar at the Stanford School of Medicine. He was previously a distinguished professor of public health and medicine at UCLA. Margaret Gaston Margaret Gaston is the retired founder and president of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning. Like thousands of other families, in January we lost our Pacific Palisades home to wildfire. Within minutes, every house on our …

RSG 3-D Aims to Change How We Build Resilient Communities

When Jean-Pierre “JP” and Laetitia Teyssier purchased their home in Santa Rosa, Calif., in 2014, they weren’t particularly worried about wildfires. Northern California’s wine country had experienced some blazes in the past, but the Teyssiers’ neighbors assured them that fires had rarely, if ever, threatened homes in the area, much less destroyed them. The likelihood of earthquakes were far more top of mind for the French couple, who had moved to…

Modular builders are growing amid disaster recovery boom

As natural disasters displace thousands of homeowners, modular and 3D-printed homebuilders are moving from the margins to the mainstream, The Wall Street Journal writes. Companies like ICON, Hapi Homes, Samara and Reframe Systems are expanding rapidly into disaster-prone markets like California, Florida and Hawaii, offering faster, more affordable alternatives to traditional construction. Their appeal is growing as insurance payouts often fall s…