The catastrophic fires in Los Angeles have forced more than 150,000 residents to evacuate and have led to the loss of or damage to approximately 12,000 structures. Hurricane-force winds and smoke and ash have disrupted daily life, caused widespread property damage, and serve as the latest depiction of the destructive effects of extreme events made worse by climate change.

The immediate crisis of the fires has also compounded another ongoing human crisis in Los Angeles. On any given day in 2024, more than 75,000 people experienced homelessness in Los Angeles County—more than 50,000 of them outside in unsheltered locations. As the fires fuel Los Angeles’s long-standing housing crisis, they will also threaten people currently experiencing homelessness and those who have been rehoused, and they’ll put even more people at risk of homelessness.

In Los Angeles and across the US, solutions to homelessness and the lack of affordable housing are needed to build equitable, climate resilient cities.

The current risk to people experiencing homelessness

Reporting indicates that some of the worst air quality during the fires has been downwind of the Eaton Fire in downtown Los Angeles around the area known as Skid Row. As of the 2024 Point-in-Time Count, approximately 2,200 people lived unsheltered in Skid Row, one of the heaviest concentrations of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in the city. Just north of Skid Row, the particulate pollution—ash and debris in the air—reached 483.7 micrograms per cubic meter, nearly 14 times the federal limit for daily average concentrations. Based on previous research, people who are unsheltered have a higher exposure to ash and debris, which results in more emergency room visits than among housed people.

In general, people experiencing homelessness face unique risks and suffer the most severe effects during disasters because response and recovery efforts often lack the knowledge, resources, and capacity to meet their specific needs. Experience from previous disasters show strains on housing service organizations and that temporary disaster shelters often lack staff and resources to serve people with housing instability, including responsibly managing mental health needs and addressing retraumatization. Organizations in Skid Row and other parts of Los Angeles have active calls out for additional supports as they struggle under the current conditions.

Disasters put more people at risk of homelessness

Before the fires, Los Angeles’s housing market was extremely constrained and unaffordable: only 21 affordable and available rental units existed for every 100 households with extremely low incomes. The loss and damage to thousands of homes in the city will further strain the market.

People who’ve lost their homes, particularly renters (PDF) with low incomes, who have limited options and few resources to fall back on, will be at risk of homelessness following the wildfires. Housing services organizations will face new demands to meet these households’ needs while helping them navigate recovery resources.

Although the extent of damage or loss to the city’s permanent supportive housing and interim housing stock is still unknown, people who were rehoused into homes destroyed by the fire will have to reenter shelter and be housed again. With this process comes the real fear of becoming homeless again.

Beyond the immediate risk of increasing homelessness, data (PDF) from past disasters indicate that rents increase 4 to 6 percent more than other similar locations that did not experience a disaster, with rents remaining elevated for the five subsequent years because of the constrained supply and homeowners temporarily entering the rental market. There are already reports of rising rents in Los Angeles despite state legislation restricting increases to less than 10 percent for one year following a declared state of emergency (which was activated as of January 7 in Los Angeles). As a result, this disaster places more people at risk of homelessness whether they suffered damages from the fire or not.

Moving forward

Already, service provider organizations in Los Angeles are undertaking lifesaving work to help people they’ve rehoused who are in evacuation zones and work to get people indoors. In the coming weeks and months, more efforts will be needed to support those currently experiencing homelessness and the many households newly at risk of homelessness.

In the immediate term, Los Angeles and communities affected by the wildfires must focus on getting people indoors and out of unsheltered homelessness. Keys to these efforts are rehousing people using evidence-based approaches such as Housing First; ensuring emergency shelters—both traditional homeless programs and disaster shelters—are safe and accessible; and prioritizing resources for the most vulnerable residents, including those experiencing unsheltered homelessness who have health conditions, when universal help is unavailable.

Ultimately, recovery efforts will need to be informed by the lived experiences of people experiencing homelessness and will require targeted programs that meet the needs of people at risk of and experiencing homelessness, such as efforts like North Carolina’s Back@Home program. Trusted organizations and intentional outreach are necessary to help people access these programs and other resources.

Broadly, the solution to homelessness is housing. The country as a whole, including Los Angeles, needs large-scale federal policy solutions to housing challenges. These must include intentional considerations of climate resilience such as assessing how and where housing is built relative to climate hazards, adapting community infrastructure to improve resilience, and supporting communities with information and emergency plans to mitigate losses.