May 14, 2025 • 36 mins
When the Eaton Fire tore through the Altadena neighborhood in January, many homes were lost. But also at risk was history, culture and community in a neighborhood known for its uniquely high Black homeownership rate. In the aftermath, as displaced residents were overwhelmed, private investors have swooped in, offering to buy up scorched lots for eye-popping amounts of cash.
It's Altadena versus disaster capitalists, and residents have just taken a big step forward by creating a land bank where vulnerable homeowners who need to sell their properties can keep ownership in the community's hands.
“I'm seeing lots popping up for sale…how do we, you know, how do we keep this land off the market? How do we just buy it?” says Jasmin Shupper, founder of Greenline Housing Foundation, of the moment that sparked the local organization's grant-funded effort to compete with corporate buyers. “We just need community-minded, community-centered and community-located organizations to just buy it – and then work together with the community to determine what happens next.”
Guests on this episode include Shupper, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, and Eliana Perozo, Next City's Equitable Cities Reporting Fellow for Anti-Displacement Strategies.
It's Altadena versus disaster capitalists, and residents have just taken a big step forward by creating a land bank where vulnerable homeowners who need to sell their properties can keep ownership in the community's hands.
“I'm seeing lots popping up for sale…how do we, you know, how do we keep this land off the market? How do we just buy it?” says Jasmin Shupper, founder of Greenline Housing Foundation, of the moment that sparked the local organization's grant-funded effort to compete with corporate buyers. “We just need community-minded, community-centered and community-located organizations to just buy it – and then work together with the community to determine what happens next.”
Guests on this episode include Shupper, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president of the Los Angeles City Council, and Eliana Perozo, Next City's Equitable Cities Reporting Fellow for Anti-Displacement Strategies.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Strawt Media as a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm going on there and I'm seeing lots popping up
for sale because i knew it would happen, and I'm like,
how do we you know, how do we keep this
land off mark? How do we just just buy it?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
We just need community minded, community centered in community located
organizations to just buy it and then work together with
the community to determine what happens next.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Right.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
This is Lucas Grinley from Next City, a show about
change makers and their stories. Truth is, there are solutions
to the problems of pressing people in cities. If you're listening,
I hope it's because you want to spread good ideas
from one city to the next city. When the Eden
fire tore through the Altadna neighborhood in Los Angeles earlier
this year, obviously people's homes were lost, but also at
risk was history, culture, and community. In the aftermath, as
(00:57):
displaced residents were overwhelmed, private investors swooped in, offering to
buy up scorched lots for cash. Now when you visit Altadena,
you'll see yard signs proclaiming Altadena is not for sale.
Green Line Housing Foundation, led by founder and executive director,
Jasmine Schooper is part of the movement fighting back. They've
created a land bank as one way to protect the
(01:19):
community from speculators. Instead of selling to private equity, a
homeowner in distress or who has decided to leave consult
the land bank instead, thereby keeping ownership in the hands
of the community. In today's episode, Jasmine will explain whether
they're moving fast enough to outpace those corporate buyers, and
why black homeownership in Altadena is unlike anywhere else and
(01:41):
what it really takes, both emotionally and financially to rebuild
a community after disaster. Later in the episode, we're back
with La City Council President Marquise Harris Tawson. He was
with us last week to talk about Destination Crenshaw, and
now he returns to share what made Altadena feel like
a safe haven when he was growing up there and
how Altadena community can preserve its spirit, which is a
(02:03):
goal they have in common with Cunshaw. First, let's check
in with NEX City reporter Eleana Paroso, our correspondent covering
anti displacement solutions. She can help us understand why what's
happening is often called disaster capitalism. She's interviewed activists in
Altadena who are pushing back. So I want to start
(02:23):
with this phrase that I read in your story, and
I don't know that I had known it before. It
was disaster capitalism. So what is disaster capitalism?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Disaster capitalism essentially is when there is a group of people,
typically private investors or private equity folks, that are able
to capitalize on disaster. They benefit essentially financially from coming
in and for example here buying land at a cheaper rate,
or knowing that there is a community of people that
(02:53):
are vulnerable and a bit desperate, right, and then that
means that they can come in and buy land at
that cheaper rate.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
I mean. Another astonishing thing from the story is that
shortly after this fire in Altadena, a private developer paid
five hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash for the
first vacant lot, which was more than the asking price.
So what's going on? I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
It was not only was it more than the asking price,
but it was one hundred thousand dollars more than the
asking price. They had an office space nearby that they
were renting, so they had a little bit of previous knowledge,
you know, and information about this area.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
But to then have come so.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Immediately after these fires and kind of flex that power
right through about like what somewhere between fifteen and twenty
percent more than asking price really just shows that they
have all the power. And even with this this amazing
effort on behalf of Green Line Housing Foundation to turn
their place into a land bank, they're nonprofit, into a
(03:57):
land bank, there's still fourteen to one.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Okay, so there have been fourteen properties bought up by
private investors racing in in their form of disaster capitalism,
and meanwhile Remy and others have formed a community land
bank to try to buy up things before them. There's
essentially a race going on. So how did they create
(04:21):
the land bank and what are they doing?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So how they created the land bank?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
It happened pretty quickly, and it's under a pacady in
a resident and she's also the founder of Green Line
Housing Foundation. Her name's Jasmine Schuper and she's had this
Green Line Housing Foundation for a while. And the idea
for the foundation itself separately is just addressing needs in
the community. And I think that that looked pretty open
(04:47):
ended my understanding is that the nonprofit has existed for
a couple of years. When this happened, right when the
fire struck, she and other people in the community got
together or like how do how do we move through this?
And she and Remy De La Pessa had been in
some organizing efforts from years prior, from just you know,
(05:09):
moments in the community that had required people getting together,
and so they had known each other from years before,
but they didn't know each other that well. Meanwhile, remy
Dela Pesza specifically is a land use attorney, so that
was her specialty. She knew that you know that works specifically,
and the Jasmin Trooper had this this nonprofit and so
(05:31):
essentially she was able to through her nonprofit create kind
of like the opening for the land bank. And she
and Remy De la Pess and as Pessa got together
and with miss Pessa's kind of expertise in Jasmine Super's platform,
this this nonprofit that she had as a platform, they said, hey,
let's use this as a land bank. What a land
bank is is that you take that money, you take
(05:52):
that lot off the market, so it's not continuing to
raise in price.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
However, the decision of what happens to.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
That land is still is not decided, and that's something
that the community is currently meeting right now to kind
of discuss and move further. And I think, you know,
in a moment of so much instability and uncertainty, it's
hard because what they're offering still is a degree of question,
and they're asking the community really to trust them, but
(06:19):
more so to trust themselves. They're saying, hey, community, we
can decide together what happens to this land.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
And that's really hard, you know, to sell in a
moment of so much instability.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I think something that Remy del Pessa said and our
interview that really spoke to me was, you know, part
of what's hard about making any decisions is that before
this was a community that we would go knock on
your neighbor's door and.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Say, hey, what do you think we should do? Should
we sell? Should we do this?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But because so many people are currently displaced, that being
a huge piece of their decision making process is no
longer there. And people, although you know, there are some
laws that have been passed to say hey, no, you
can't legally come as private firms and ask somebody to
buy their property, people are still being approached. According to
(07:04):
to Pessa, people or in the community are still being
approached to sell their land, and so she and Miss
Jasmine super are moving as quickly as they can to
raise money, put together this platform to receive these funds,
make sure the community knows that they're.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Really in the lead here.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
And so yeah, it's a lot of moving pieces for them,
especially with the process that's being built at the same
time that decisions and actions are happening.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Let me ask you about the raising money part, because
we're talking about four hundred, five hundred, six hundred thousand
dollars per plot of land, and that's going to at
a real fast and we're talking about a lot of
land that's at stake and then the future of the neighborhood.
So where are they getting the money from and how
can they possibly keep up and raise enough money to
(07:53):
compete with private equity.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Most recently they received the most disagreement right, so they've
been to buy one property so far, and they received
a five hundred thousand dollars grant from the Pasadena Foundation.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
However, there are so many people that are meeting with them.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
When I see people, I mean specifically philanthropic donors is
how much Pessa described them, and she explained to me, like, look,
we keep getting these calls from people who have the
means and.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Are saying we want to help.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Come in and give us a pitch on how we
can help, and it comes down to just giving us
this money to buy these properties and then we can
decide we just need a minute. Right time is money
and that you really see that here and she says,
you know, we really need these philanthropic donors to step
up or Altadena is going to end up permanently in
the hands of corporations.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
After the break, we'll speak with Jasmine Schooper, the founder
and executive director of Greenline Housing Foundation. She explains why
their efforts to save Altadenas started long before the fires,
and how the communities unusually high rate of black home
ownership makes the stakes even higher. Welcome back for Jasmin
(09:10):
Trooper and the team at Green Line Housing. Their work
didn't begin with the fire, but it evolved because of it.
Here's Jasma.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Really what we see and green Lines participation and Eaten
fire relief specifically is to preserve communities, restore and maintain
black and brown wealth and home ownership, and keep the
fabric of the community intact post wildfire, because Altadina is
such a special community and such a unique community in
(09:42):
a number of ways, not the least of which is
a black home ownership rate that's double the national average,
and that is in large part informed by history. Because
at a time when housing was very inaccessible, when housing
discrimination was legal, and people of color or faced significant
barriers to accessing home ownership, Altadena actually became a haven
(10:06):
for black people and other people of color in that
it had fewer barriers to accessing home ownership than other
communities did, even as close as Pasadena. At one point,
in Pasadena, over sixty percent of the homes had racially
restrictive covenants attached to them, which meant that they couldn't
be sold or transferred to a non white person. Right,
(10:26):
But you had Altadena, which also experienced redlining. It wasn't
the Land of Milk and Honey per se. But again,
black and brown people experienced fewer barriers to accessing home ownership,
which is why you had a thriving and diverse community,
not only ethnically diverse, but also socioeconomically diverse.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
There was diversity of thought. It's a huge artist community.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You had this really beautiful community of people who didn't
all look like each other, right, and again, that was
something that was very rare and very unique at the time,
even in La County. And so that's where it starts
for me, as all the way back into what made
Altadena Altadena and why that needs to be preserved, and
(11:06):
as a component of that that means keeping this land
off the speculative market.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
I feel like I need to step back a little
bit because green Line existed before the fire, right and
if you were already doing work, So can you talk
a little bit about what that work was and then
why when you saw after the fires the realities of
what was going on, you thought this made sense for
green Line to take action.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yes, I'm glad you asked, Yeah, because we founded in
twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
We're a nonprofit organization, We've been in the community.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
We're Pacadena based, and our state admission as an organization
is to close the racial wealth and home ownership gaps
and reverse the effects of systemic racism and housing that
have happened through practices such as redlining, among others. So
when the fires hit, it would only make sense that
we would show up in response in a way that's
consistent with what our mission has always been, right, home ownership, access,
(11:59):
home ownership preservation, financial education, and this idea of closing
wealth gaps.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
And restoring black and brown wealth. Right. And so we're
really doing that.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
In three different ways as part of our eat and
fire relief for black and brown homeowners. Specifically, our kind
of like tagline of our recovery effort is rebuild, restore,
remain right.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's what it's been since literally January ninth, which is.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
When we came up with that tagline, because we saw
the writing on the wall. Okay, there was already a
decreasing black population in Altadena right pre wildfire. There was
already a rate of displacement that was accelerating right pre
wildfire because of gentrification and rising property values and all
of that.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And so we knew that there would be a.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Disproportionate impact on the black and brown homeowner population and.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
That they would need everybody needs support. Right.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
We know that wildfires do not discriminate on the basis
of race or class or ethnicity. But what will be
different is the ability to rebuild, Right, That's what will vary,
and that's informed in large part by this legation of
systemic inequities.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
You were doing all that work already, which is all
important work, but you did not have a land bank
at the time, right, So you saw this problem of
all of this land being now maybe going up on
the market, and the private equity. We knew they would
swoop in. I mean I saw the fires and saw
what was going on. I felt the same thing. I'm like,
they're coming, They're going to buy it up, and who's
going to stop them? And so you created this land
(13:27):
bank in order to buy property that was available and
keep it for the community essentially, Right, So how did
you come to the conclusion that land bank would be
the way to do it? How did any of that
even happen? And how'd you do it so quickly?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I mean, I we're green Line is not the only
organization that saw the writing on the wall, right, like
we Yeah, any any organization that's involved in housing and
development knows that, you know, this was a risk, and
this was a concern. Really, you know, green Line has
always wanted We've always wanted to at some point get
(14:04):
into development as a means to control the asset.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
As we're facilitating access to homeownership.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
We didn't realize it would happen so quickly. It came
quicker than what we anticipated. But really, this whole notion
of land banking is not something that was created by
Greenline at all. I mean, there are community land trusts
that exists that have this this value of keeping land
in community hands.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Really, this idea of banking it was for me as
a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I'm going on there and I'm seeing lots popping up
for sale because I knew it would happen, and I'm like,
how do we you know, how do we keep this
land off the mark?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
How do we just just buy it?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
We just need community minded, community centered in community located.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Organizations to just buy it and then work together with
the community to determine what happens next.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
So, there wasn't really a plan, if I'm being honest.
The plan was keep it from someone else buying it
that doesn't care.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
About the community. The way that we were able to
do it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Quickly, in all fairness, is significant because it was an
example of philanthropy acting quickly to meet a need. So
I called my friends at Pasadena Community Foundation. I said, look,
the writing's on the wall. We have this opportunity to
purchase this slot because I reached out to the agent
and asked if they would have an appetite, you know,
if we submitted an offer obviously that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Was competitive with the other offers that they're receiving, if.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Just from a value standpoint, they would be interested in
selling to an organization like Greenline.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
He said yes.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
After conversation with the seller. Obviously it had to be
there were other factors involved, but that was a compelling
factor for them, and I just asked them, you know,
can you deploy the funds for us to purchase this
slot right now so that we can pilot this model
and demonstrate to the community that we will not go
silently into the night right And they agreed, and we
purchased the lot and we closed es Grow in two weeks,
(15:53):
and that's how we were able to do it so quickly.
It was really a coordinated effort, shared value, shared vision,
and that's how it will need to be scaled as well,
is in cooperation with other organizations that are purchasing because
the reality is that there are a number of values
that need to inform this collective rebuilding effort right approaching
it with one value in mind, there's other values that
(16:17):
also are important, and so it's important that organizations that
are working toward each of these respective values work together
so that we have a holistic rebuilding and that all
values are centered.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
I want to talk about rebuilding, but first you mentioned
wanting to know whether or not the owner would be
interested in selling to an organization like Greenline with the
mission that you were trying to achieve. Were you able
to learn anything about the people who are affected by
the wildfire, and like, how did that impact your kind
of view of this work going forward?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, I had conversations with the agent then would relay
and act as you know, the intermediary between us as
the buyer.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And the seller. And really it was what they came
to value.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
About the organ or about the community, right, the things
that they enjoyed about living in the community, the things
that were special and unique, like it's diversity, like I
mentioned earlier, which prompted them to be like, Okay, you know,
even if we won't be here, I know that this
organization has these values in mind, has the community well
being in mind, and so we want to sell to
(17:33):
them because we want to see diversity remain. We want
to see a collaborative effort among community stakeholders and housing
stakeholders in the rebuilding.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
We want to see all of these things.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And that's one thing that I will say, because since
that purchase, we've actually been approached by many sellers, some
who have listed, some who have not.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Inquiring us to whether we would be interested in buying their.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Land, because even though they won't be here, they love
the community so much. They have had such joyful experiences
with their neighbors, living alongside people who didn't look like them,
who had different backgrounds and experiences, you know, which makes
Altadena so unique. And even though they weren't going to
be here to experience that, they wanted to make sure
(18:17):
that it remained and was preserved. And I think that
is such a testament to how beautiful Altadena is as
a community. And one thing that I will say as
well is that many of the people who have approached
us looking to sell to us aren't even black or
brown people, and I think that's also something that's a
huge testament to the community.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
After the break, Jasmine talks about what comes next, how
Greenline is helping residents rebuild, how trust is built over time,
and why scaling this work is a part of a
much larger effort. Later, we hear from LA City Council
President Marquise Harris Dawson about growing up in Altadena and
what that community has meant to generations of black residents.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Welcome back.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
After green Line Housing bought its first lot in Altadena,
people started reaching out. Even today, neighbors aren't sure what
to do next, but they don't want to sell to
just anyone, Jasmine Trooper says. Those conversations often begin with curiosity.
Maybe they've heard Greenline is protecting the community, and now
they want to know more. Here's Jasmine.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Community is actively taking care of each other right and
sharing resources that.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Are available and things that are put in place to help.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And so as that's happening, and because of our specific
wildfire relief strategy and support strategy being phased and also
including long term temporary housing, also including rebuilding.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Assistance, we're not just looking to buy land.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
We're actually hoping that everyone stays and rebuilds, right, but
for those who can't or won't or don't want to,
you providing an option for them to sell that's community
centered and community minded, and so really the trust component,
I think is not something that we have to demonstrate.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
As we're having these conversations.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
The trust component comes one from our history pre wildfire
and who we've been. Two from the kind of medium
term way that we've been showing up in wildfire already
with providing long term temporary housing assistance. And three is
just what the community is saying about the organizations. Again
we're one of many, but about the organizations that can
(20:34):
be trusted.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
And so your answer to them on whether or not
you can purchase the property is partly tied to or
largely tied to nations, right, Yeah, whether or not you
can go and get the money to do it. So
what are those conversations like and where are you right
now in terms of being able to grow this land bank.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, again, this is not a siloed effort. This is
not a solo job.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The land banking conversations are happening on a very broad scale,
all the way up.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
To the state level.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Because yes, it was great that Green Line was able
to purchase a lot, and you know we just closed
us grow on our second lot and we have many
more in the pipeline. But we're one organization, right, This
is much much bigger than one organization, and so just
you know, one organization buying one off lots here and
there is not going to be enough to scale the
(21:25):
land banking effort. And the good news is that that's
well known, right, that's well known among policy makers, that's
well known among other organizations. And so what those conversations
look like right now is how can we scale this effort?
How can philanthropy participate, recognizing it will have to involve
debt as well, because philanthropy alone can't do it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So what is that?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
What are those debt structures look like? And who are
the participants? Right?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
How can we deploy large funds, you know, a significant
amount of funds toward this effort to then be disseminated
to implementing nonprofit organizations and stakeholders that can purchase these
lots in a manner that's consistent with their mission and
values that have been.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Identified in the rebuild.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right, It's going to take more than just us, more
than just any organization, and we need the funds for it.
And you know, I think there's I think it's important
to consider what the long term strategy will be, but
I also think concurrent with that and I've said this
in so many spaces. There have to be some immediate
funds deployed because these speculative investors are.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Not waiting for our long term plan to take shape. Right.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
It's a race.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. And it's a race.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
And foundations aren't really known for moving that quickly or
state governments. I mean, these are not things that are
speedy historically. What speedy are grassroots reactions because I'm taking
care of my neighbors, right, But that's right. So what
you talked about, there are conversations around how to scale it.
Can you help us understand what those conversations are?
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Now?
Speaker 5 (23:04):
What are even some ideas?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, I mean, and really it comes down to a coalition, right,
a coalition of identified entrusted nonprofit stakeholders, policymakers you know,
so government, so a public private partnership in that way,
and a large pot of funds being deployed and centralized. Right,
So centralized funds to then be deployed for implementing organizations.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
That are on the ground doing the work the land
banking effort.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Right, there's a sense of you know, how can we
ensure that you know, one the funds are deployed quickly,
like you said, And two that they're going to the
right place right and going to the right organizations. So
that's part of the coalition, you know, forming that's that's
happening right now, is to identify those players.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Can I ask, just are you optimistic?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
So here's the thing, No one starts a nonprofit organization
unless there's some sense of optimism that they can change
something that's wrong, right, that they have identified a problem
that they feel like they can do a small part
in trying to solve. So I think from that standpoint, yes,
I am optimistic. When it pertains to the long term
rebuilding of Altadena, I am also optimistic, but cautiously so
(24:20):
because there are so many things that have to happen
in order for it to be effectuated in a way
that is holistic, that is equitable, that does not leave
individuals or groups of individuals behind.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And so yes, I'm cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
But there needs to continue to be centered community and
community organizations and organizations on the ground because we have
a pulse of what is needed in the city. Faith
institutions know what their congregations need, you know, Youth service
programs know what their youth and what the family needs.
Housing providers know what their constituents need, So it has
(25:00):
to involve and informed and be shaped by the community.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And that is huge.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
What's one thing you wish people understood about what's going
on that you think is getting overlooked or is being misunderstood, just.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
How important it is. One, like you said, for capital
to be deployed quickly. Two for holistic and comprehensive support
for people who have been impacted by this fire. I'm
not even limited to.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Just do you need actual funds to rebuild, which is
one of the things that Greenline is focusing on in
our long term plan is giving assistance up to two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars per family to stand in
the gaps in and above what insurance or FEMA will cover.
But even you know, apart from that or separate to that,
it's comprehensive. The mental health told that this has taken
(25:51):
on the community is significant. As a resident of the
community who was also displaced and I live in Eaton Canyon,
I still.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Have not moved back home.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
There is a and we still have a home to
move back to, and there's still been a mental health
component so for someone who lost everything there, it's very weighty.
And I think that that's what we're hearing among the
people that are that are looking to us for help
and support, is how am I going to think about rebuilding?
I'm still I'm very traumatized right now. Right, So this
(26:21):
kind of holistic, comprehensive support that needs to happen for people.
And also, we were in a housing crisis before the fire,
right There was a shortage of housing before the fire,
So there needs to be a focus on getting people
housing stability in the interim before they can even think
about rebuilding, which is why Phase one of our plan
(26:41):
is helping people locate, procure, and pay for long term
temporary housing in or as close to the community as possible,
and helping to remove some of those barriers to access
for people who maybe aren't all of a sudden position
to pay market rent right after a lot of seniors
were impacted and they're unfixed income, right, And so how
do we connect resources with people to get that housing
(27:01):
stability so that we can achieve the long term objective,
which is everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Rebuilding and staying in the community, right, And so I.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Think that that's something that needs to be really really
spotlighted as a crucial component to this recovery effort. It's
just so much it's insurance and insurance, right, Like a
lot of people were underinsured, and so how are people
going to be insured?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Will they be able to get insurance if they stay
and rebuild? What will that look like?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
The cost of materials because of you know what's happening
federally and with tariffs. How is that going to impact
the cost of rebuilding for people who already have very
very tight margins When it comes to that, it's a lot, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
It is.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Last week we heard from La City Council President Marquis
Harris Stawson about preserving black culture and place through Destination Crunshaw.
He's back with us today to reflect on Altadina, where
he grew up and what made it feel like a
safe and powerful community. Here's Marquise, What do you remember
about growing up in Altadena that you hope is permanent and.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
Is not lost. What I appreciated about Altadena is it
was like living in a small town that was really
a big family and there was a broad enough cross
section of the community. So there were people who were
very poor that were housing projects there, and there were
also people who were well off, you know some of
the I remember a house that a very famous black
(28:33):
inventor lived in and you know was I guess wealthy
by those days standards. And you could go from one
neighbor to the other in the bosom of the black
community and one feel safe, but two feel like there
were resources available to you and people everybody pulling for
you to do your best as a young person and
(28:54):
to realize your full potential. Also, you know that there
was an enforcement that anybody who came in and did business,
you cannot make our people uncomfortable. You can't make young
people uncomfortable. There's none of this following young people around
the store or having projects that are inaccessible. It just
(29:15):
was a real familial environment that felt safe almost everywhere
you went.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
I think that's such a good response because that's not
a thing that can be burned down, right, Like the
feeling that you're talking about can be preserved, right.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
So how do you do that?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
What do you think needs to happen?
Speaker 6 (29:32):
You know what's interesting, You know, you show up to
a place like Altadena and it's done at least kind
of like you know it when you see it, how
it was built is you know. I mean, I'm a
big student of history, and so I know a little
bit of the history of Altadena and the first settlements
in that part of the world of African Americans who
were migrating from the South. But what was done in
(29:54):
each decade and each year to create that fabric, you know,
as something that I think be studied for a long
long time. Fortunately, Altadena has things like churches that are
nearly one hundred years old. They have some community organizations
that are nearly as old, if not a little bit older.
And so those institutions are important because they preserve the
(30:16):
history and they can tell you what happened, you know,
at different junctures. So you can go back and look
and say, oh, what did Altadenans do during the Great Depression?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Right?
Speaker 6 (30:24):
What did Altadenons do during the Great Recession? What did
Altadena do when southern California had huge earthquakes and property
was damaged? There is a basis to go back and
look at that and understand one what was done right
to produce what we have, and also to see what
opportunities were missed in that time period that we can
seize in this moment.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Yeah, you have to get lessons from history and from
other things going on. So I'm going to ask you
to try to draw a connection. I don't know if
one exists, but is there a lesson to be learned
in Altadena and rebuilding and preserving its history that can
be taken from this destination Crenshaw Monument?
Speaker 6 (31:02):
And well, yeah, absolutely. I think the lesson that can
be learned from Altadena that I hope we take to
heart in the Crenshaw district is ownership. Ownership and ownership
that passes from generation to generation to generations. You know,
one of the biggest problems in Altadena after the fires
was the number of single family homes that were registered
(31:27):
to people who had passed away and had been deceased
for over twenty years. You know why that was because
the houses stayed within the family, and no one ever thought,
I'm going to go down and change the name from
grandma's name to this name. People just live in the houses,
they have their families, they grow you know, people grow
up and some people stay around. Other people's move on.
(31:50):
But the point is that the significance of ownership so
that even in the face of a catastrophe. You can
only be moved out if you volunteer to move out,
And some people are choosing that. I don't mean to
say that nobody. I mean, you know, I I one
of the an older woman that that is older now
(32:11):
who lived in the community when when I live there,
you know, is in our eighties. And she's like, I
don't want to spend the rest of my time rebuilding
a house. It's like, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Built this house.
Speaker 6 (32:19):
I know how long it takes and how much of
a how much work it is to build a house.
I don't want to spend the rest of my time
doing that. I'm moving back down South. But at least
she has a choice, and the choice isn't being dictated
to her by someone else or imposed on her or
the neighborhood by someone else. It's her decision, and she
can go to her neighbors and say, hey, I'm going
to sell. What do you guys want to do? Do
(32:40):
you want to pull your money and buy it? Do
you have a relative that you want to move in,
do you have a coworker, or do you you know
somebody else that you think would be a good neighbor
And can also you know give me the compensation I
need from my house. But because you own, the choice
is yours and the choices with the community as with
an outsider.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Land banks and community land trusts are tools being used
all over LA County. There's the land bank we've talked
about for Altadena. There's also an effort in Crenshaw where
groups like Liberty Hill Foundation are using the land trust
model to help residents stay put with support from organizations
that care like green Light Housing. These communities are fighting
to hold onto ownership and power even after disaster. Here's
(33:27):
Jasmine with a word of advice for anyone in Altadena
or facing a crisis like this, one who might feel
overwhelmed and is still deciding their next step.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
The advice that I would give would be.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Pause right, And I've shared this and other nonprofit partners
have shared this in spaces that we've been in together.
It's just you just got a pause, Like, don't make
any rash decisions. These investors are trying to come in
and solicit people and seduce people with like fast money
so you don't have to think about it, and exploit
people's overwhelm. Just pause right. See what help and resources
(34:01):
are out there? Identify what you even need, because there's
a sense that people don't even know. It feels overwhelming
and they don't know what they need. They don't even
know what's possible, they don't know the options, and so
we're trying to work with an organization to do that
kind of case management from the building paint scenarios, identify
and quantify a gap, so then there's a sense of ah, Okay,
now I can be informed to make a decision. It
(34:23):
doesn't all feel so overwhelming and like abstract concepts. So
that's the advice that I would give and have been giving,
is just pause.
Speaker 5 (34:31):
That's good advice. And thanks for being there for your
neighbors even though you've been affected, and for your whole community.
It's really valuable.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
So thanks so much, absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Next City, a
show about change makers and their stories. Together we can
spread good ideas from one city to the next city.
Thank you for listening this week. Thank you to our
guests Jasmine Schooper, founder and executive director of Greenline Housing Foundation,
and LA City Council President Marquise Harris Dawson. Thank you
to next Citi's Eleana Paroso for her reporting on this story.
The story was produced through our Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship
(35:20):
for Anti Displacement Strategies, which is made possible with funding
from the Robert wid Johnson Foundation. Our audio producer is
l Von Alcala, Our show producer is Maggie Bowles, our
executive producer is Ryan Tillotson, and I'm Lucas Grinley, Executive
director for Next City. By the way, Next City is
a news organization with a nonprofit model. If you like
what we're doing here, please consider pitching in to support
(35:40):
our work. Visit nextcity dot org slash membership to make
a donation. We'd love to hear any feedback from our listeners.
Please feel free to email us at info at nexcity
dot org and if you haven't already, subscribe to the
show on Apple, Spotify, good Pods, or anywhere you listen
to your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Pret
Strawt Media as a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm going on there and I'm seeing lots popping up
for sale because i knew it would happen, and I'm like,
how do we you know, how do we keep this
land off mark? How do we just just buy it?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
We just need community minded, community centered in community located
organizations to just buy it and then work together with
the community to determine what happens next.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Right.
Speaker 5 (00:33):
This is Lucas Grinley from Next City, a show about
change makers and their stories. Truth is, there are solutions
to the problems of pressing people in cities. If you're listening,
I hope it's because you want to spread good ideas
from one city to the next city. When the Eden
fire tore through the Altadna neighborhood in Los Angeles earlier
this year, obviously people's homes were lost, but also at
risk was history, culture, and community. In the aftermath, as
(00:57):
displaced residents were overwhelmed, private investors swooped in, offering to
buy up scorched lots for cash. Now when you visit Altadena,
you'll see yard signs proclaiming Altadena is not for sale.
Green Line Housing Foundation, led by founder and executive director,
Jasmine Schooper is part of the movement fighting back. They've
created a land bank as one way to protect the
(01:19):
community from speculators. Instead of selling to private equity, a
homeowner in distress or who has decided to leave consult
the land bank instead, thereby keeping ownership in the hands
of the community. In today's episode, Jasmine will explain whether
they're moving fast enough to outpace those corporate buyers, and
why black homeownership in Altadena is unlike anywhere else and
(01:41):
what it really takes, both emotionally and financially to rebuild
a community after disaster. Later in the episode, we're back
with La City Council President Marquise Harris Tawson. He was
with us last week to talk about Destination Crenshaw, and
now he returns to share what made Altadena feel like
a safe haven when he was growing up there and
how Altadena community can preserve its spirit, which is a
(02:03):
goal they have in common with Cunshaw. First, let's check
in with NEX City reporter Eleana Paroso, our correspondent covering
anti displacement solutions. She can help us understand why what's
happening is often called disaster capitalism. She's interviewed activists in
Altadena who are pushing back. So I want to start
(02:23):
with this phrase that I read in your story, and
I don't know that I had known it before. It
was disaster capitalism. So what is disaster capitalism?
Speaker 4 (02:33):
Disaster capitalism essentially is when there is a group of people,
typically private investors or private equity folks, that are able
to capitalize on disaster. They benefit essentially financially from coming
in and for example here buying land at a cheaper rate,
or knowing that there is a community of people that
(02:53):
are vulnerable and a bit desperate, right, and then that
means that they can come in and buy land at
that cheaper rate.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
I mean. Another astonishing thing from the story is that
shortly after this fire in Altadena, a private developer paid
five hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash for the
first vacant lot, which was more than the asking price.
So what's going on? I don't understand.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
It was not only was it more than the asking price,
but it was one hundred thousand dollars more than the
asking price. They had an office space nearby that they
were renting, so they had a little bit of previous knowledge,
you know, and information about this area.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
But to then have come so.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Immediately after these fires and kind of flex that power
right through about like what somewhere between fifteen and twenty
percent more than asking price really just shows that they
have all the power. And even with this this amazing
effort on behalf of Green Line Housing Foundation to turn
their place into a land bank, they're nonprofit, into a
(03:57):
land bank, there's still fourteen to one.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
Okay, so there have been fourteen properties bought up by
private investors racing in in their form of disaster capitalism,
and meanwhile Remy and others have formed a community land
bank to try to buy up things before them. There's
essentially a race going on. So how did they create
(04:21):
the land bank and what are they doing?
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So how they created the land bank?
Speaker 4 (04:27):
It happened pretty quickly, and it's under a pacady in
a resident and she's also the founder of Green Line
Housing Foundation. Her name's Jasmine Schuper and she's had this
Green Line Housing Foundation for a while. And the idea
for the foundation itself separately is just addressing needs in
the community. And I think that that looked pretty open
(04:47):
ended my understanding is that the nonprofit has existed for
a couple of years. When this happened, right when the
fire struck, she and other people in the community got
together or like how do how do we move through this?
And she and Remy De La Pessa had been in
some organizing efforts from years prior, from just you know,
(05:09):
moments in the community that had required people getting together,
and so they had known each other from years before,
but they didn't know each other that well. Meanwhile, remy
Dela Pesza specifically is a land use attorney, so that
was her specialty. She knew that you know that works specifically,
and the Jasmin Trooper had this this nonprofit and so
(05:31):
essentially she was able to through her nonprofit create kind
of like the opening for the land bank. And she
and Remy De la Pess and as Pessa got together
and with miss Pessa's kind of expertise in Jasmine Super's platform,
this this nonprofit that she had as a platform, they said, hey,
let's use this as a land bank. What a land
bank is is that you take that money, you take
(05:52):
that lot off the market, so it's not continuing to
raise in price.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
However, the decision of what happens to.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
That land is still is not decided, and that's something
that the community is currently meeting right now to kind
of discuss and move further. And I think, you know,
in a moment of so much instability and uncertainty, it's
hard because what they're offering still is a degree of question,
and they're asking the community really to trust them, but
(06:19):
more so to trust themselves. They're saying, hey, community, we
can decide together what happens to this land.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
And that's really hard, you know, to sell in a
moment of so much instability.
Speaker 4 (06:28):
I think something that Remy del Pessa said and our
interview that really spoke to me was, you know, part
of what's hard about making any decisions is that before
this was a community that we would go knock on
your neighbor's door and.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Say, hey, what do you think we should do? Should
we sell? Should we do this?
Speaker 4 (06:43):
But because so many people are currently displaced, that being
a huge piece of their decision making process is no
longer there. And people, although you know, there are some
laws that have been passed to say hey, no, you
can't legally come as private firms and ask somebody to
buy their property, people are still being approached. According to
(07:04):
to Pessa, people or in the community are still being
approached to sell their land, and so she and Miss
Jasmine super are moving as quickly as they can to
raise money, put together this platform to receive these funds,
make sure the community knows that they're.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Really in the lead here.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
And so yeah, it's a lot of moving pieces for them,
especially with the process that's being built at the same
time that decisions and actions are happening.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Let me ask you about the raising money part, because
we're talking about four hundred, five hundred, six hundred thousand
dollars per plot of land, and that's going to at
a real fast and we're talking about a lot of
land that's at stake and then the future of the neighborhood.
So where are they getting the money from and how
can they possibly keep up and raise enough money to
(07:53):
compete with private equity.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Most recently they received the most disagreement right, so they've
been to buy one property so far, and they received
a five hundred thousand dollars grant from the Pasadena Foundation.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
However, there are so many people that are meeting with them.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
When I see people, I mean specifically philanthropic donors is
how much Pessa described them, and she explained to me, like, look,
we keep getting these calls from people who have the
means and.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Are saying we want to help.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Come in and give us a pitch on how we
can help, and it comes down to just giving us
this money to buy these properties and then we can
decide we just need a minute. Right time is money
and that you really see that here and she says,
you know, we really need these philanthropic donors to step
up or Altadena is going to end up permanently in
the hands of corporations.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
After the break, we'll speak with Jasmine Schooper, the founder
and executive director of Greenline Housing Foundation. She explains why
their efforts to save Altadenas started long before the fires,
and how the communities unusually high rate of black home
ownership makes the stakes even higher. Welcome back for Jasmin
(09:10):
Trooper and the team at Green Line Housing. Their work
didn't begin with the fire, but it evolved because of it.
Here's Jasma.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Really what we see and green Lines participation and Eaten
fire relief specifically is to preserve communities, restore and maintain
black and brown wealth and home ownership, and keep the
fabric of the community intact post wildfire, because Altadina is
such a special community and such a unique community in
(09:42):
a number of ways, not the least of which is
a black home ownership rate that's double the national average,
and that is in large part informed by history. Because
at a time when housing was very inaccessible, when housing
discrimination was legal, and people of color or faced significant
barriers to accessing home ownership, Altadena actually became a haven
(10:06):
for black people and other people of color in that
it had fewer barriers to accessing home ownership than other
communities did, even as close as Pasadena. At one point,
in Pasadena, over sixty percent of the homes had racially
restrictive covenants attached to them, which meant that they couldn't
be sold or transferred to a non white person. Right,
(10:26):
But you had Altadena, which also experienced redlining. It wasn't
the Land of Milk and Honey per se. But again,
black and brown people experienced fewer barriers to accessing home ownership,
which is why you had a thriving and diverse community,
not only ethnically diverse, but also socioeconomically diverse.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
There was diversity of thought. It's a huge artist community.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
You had this really beautiful community of people who didn't
all look like each other, right, and again, that was
something that was very rare and very unique at the time,
even in La County. And so that's where it starts
for me, as all the way back into what made
Altadena Altadena and why that needs to be preserved, and
(11:06):
as a component of that that means keeping this land
off the speculative market.
Speaker 5 (11:10):
I feel like I need to step back a little
bit because green Line existed before the fire, right and
if you were already doing work, So can you talk
a little bit about what that work was and then
why when you saw after the fires the realities of
what was going on, you thought this made sense for
green Line to take action.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Yes, I'm glad you asked, Yeah, because we founded in
twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
We're a nonprofit organization, We've been in the community.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
We're Pacadena based, and our state admission as an organization
is to close the racial wealth and home ownership gaps
and reverse the effects of systemic racism and housing that
have happened through practices such as redlining, among others. So
when the fires hit, it would only make sense that
we would show up in response in a way that's
consistent with what our mission has always been, right, home ownership, access,
(11:59):
home ownership preservation, financial education, and this idea of closing
wealth gaps.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
And restoring black and brown wealth. Right. And so we're
really doing that.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
In three different ways as part of our eat and
fire relief for black and brown homeowners. Specifically, our kind
of like tagline of our recovery effort is rebuild, restore,
remain right.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's what it's been since literally January ninth, which is.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
When we came up with that tagline, because we saw
the writing on the wall. Okay, there was already a
decreasing black population in Altadena right pre wildfire. There was
already a rate of displacement that was accelerating right pre
wildfire because of gentrification and rising property values and all
of that.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
And so we knew that there would be a.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Disproportionate impact on the black and brown homeowner population and.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
That they would need everybody needs support. Right.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
We know that wildfires do not discriminate on the basis
of race or class or ethnicity. But what will be
different is the ability to rebuild, Right, That's what will vary,
and that's informed in large part by this legation of
systemic inequities.
Speaker 5 (13:05):
You were doing all that work already, which is all
important work, but you did not have a land bank
at the time, right, So you saw this problem of
all of this land being now maybe going up on
the market, and the private equity. We knew they would
swoop in. I mean I saw the fires and saw
what was going on. I felt the same thing. I'm like,
they're coming, They're going to buy it up, and who's
going to stop them? And so you created this land
(13:27):
bank in order to buy property that was available and
keep it for the community essentially, Right, So how did
you come to the conclusion that land bank would be
the way to do it? How did any of that
even happen? And how'd you do it so quickly?
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I mean, I we're green Line is not the only
organization that saw the writing on the wall, right, like
we Yeah, any any organization that's involved in housing and
development knows that, you know, this was a risk, and
this was a concern. Really, you know, green Line has
always wanted We've always wanted to at some point get
(14:04):
into development as a means to control the asset.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
As we're facilitating access to homeownership.
Speaker 4 (14:09):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
We didn't realize it would happen so quickly. It came
quicker than what we anticipated. But really, this whole notion
of land banking is not something that was created by
Greenline at all. I mean, there are community land trusts
that exists that have this this value of keeping land
in community hands.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Really, this idea of banking it was for me as
a real estate agent.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I'm going on there and I'm seeing lots popping up
for sale because I knew it would happen, and I'm like,
how do we you know, how do we keep this
land off the mark?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
How do we just just buy it?
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right?
Speaker 3 (14:42):
We just need community minded, community centered in community located.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Organizations to just buy it and then work together with
the community to determine what happens next.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
So, there wasn't really a plan, if I'm being honest.
The plan was keep it from someone else buying it
that doesn't care.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
About the community. The way that we were able to
do it.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Quickly, in all fairness, is significant because it was an
example of philanthropy acting quickly to meet a need. So
I called my friends at Pasadena Community Foundation. I said, look,
the writing's on the wall. We have this opportunity to
purchase this slot because I reached out to the agent
and asked if they would have an appetite, you know,
if we submitted an offer obviously that.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Was competitive with the other offers that they're receiving, if.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Just from a value standpoint, they would be interested in
selling to an organization like Greenline.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
He said yes.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
After conversation with the seller. Obviously it had to be
there were other factors involved, but that was a compelling
factor for them, and I just asked them, you know,
can you deploy the funds for us to purchase this
slot right now so that we can pilot this model
and demonstrate to the community that we will not go
silently into the night right And they agreed, and we
purchased the lot and we closed es Grow in two weeks,
(15:53):
and that's how we were able to do it so quickly.
It was really a coordinated effort, shared value, shared vision,
and that's how it will need to be scaled as well,
is in cooperation with other organizations that are purchasing because
the reality is that there are a number of values
that need to inform this collective rebuilding effort right approaching
it with one value in mind, there's other values that
(16:17):
also are important, and so it's important that organizations that
are working toward each of these respective values work together
so that we have a holistic rebuilding and that all
values are centered.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
I want to talk about rebuilding, but first you mentioned
wanting to know whether or not the owner would be
interested in selling to an organization like Greenline with the
mission that you were trying to achieve. Were you able
to learn anything about the people who are affected by
the wildfire, and like, how did that impact your kind
of view of this work going forward?
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, I had conversations with the agent then would relay
and act as you know, the intermediary between us as
the buyer.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
And the seller. And really it was what they came
to value.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
About the organ or about the community, right, the things
that they enjoyed about living in the community, the things
that were special and unique, like it's diversity, like I
mentioned earlier, which prompted them to be like, Okay, you know,
even if we won't be here, I know that this
organization has these values in mind, has the community well
being in mind, and so we want to sell to
(17:33):
them because we want to see diversity remain. We want
to see a collaborative effort among community stakeholders and housing
stakeholders in the rebuilding.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
We want to see all of these things.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
And that's one thing that I will say, because since
that purchase, we've actually been approached by many sellers, some
who have listed, some who have not.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Inquiring us to whether we would be interested in buying their.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Land, because even though they won't be here, they love
the community so much. They have had such joyful experiences
with their neighbors, living alongside people who didn't look like them,
who had different backgrounds and experiences, you know, which makes
Altadena so unique. And even though they weren't going to
be here to experience that, they wanted to make sure
(18:17):
that it remained and was preserved. And I think that
is such a testament to how beautiful Altadena is as
a community. And one thing that I will say as
well is that many of the people who have approached
us looking to sell to us aren't even black or
brown people, and I think that's also something that's a
huge testament to the community.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
After the break, Jasmine talks about what comes next, how
Greenline is helping residents rebuild, how trust is built over time,
and why scaling this work is a part of a
much larger effort. Later, we hear from LA City Council
President Marquise Harris Dawson about growing up in Altadena and
what that community has meant to generations of black residents.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Welcome back.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
After green Line Housing bought its first lot in Altadena,
people started reaching out. Even today, neighbors aren't sure what
to do next, but they don't want to sell to
just anyone, Jasmine Trooper says. Those conversations often begin with curiosity.
Maybe they've heard Greenline is protecting the community, and now
they want to know more. Here's Jasmine.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Community is actively taking care of each other right and
sharing resources that.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Are available and things that are put in place to help.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
And so as that's happening, and because of our specific
wildfire relief strategy and support strategy being phased and also
including long term temporary housing, also including rebuilding.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Assistance, we're not just looking to buy land.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
We're actually hoping that everyone stays and rebuilds, right, but
for those who can't or won't or don't want to,
you providing an option for them to sell that's community
centered and community minded, and so really the trust component,
I think is not something that we have to demonstrate.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
As we're having these conversations.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
The trust component comes one from our history pre wildfire
and who we've been. Two from the kind of medium
term way that we've been showing up in wildfire already
with providing long term temporary housing assistance. And three is
just what the community is saying about the organizations. Again
we're one of many, but about the organizations that can
(20:34):
be trusted.
Speaker 5 (20:35):
And so your answer to them on whether or not
you can purchase the property is partly tied to or
largely tied to nations, right, Yeah, whether or not you
can go and get the money to do it. So
what are those conversations like and where are you right
now in terms of being able to grow this land bank.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, again, this is not a siloed effort. This is
not a solo job.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The land banking conversations are happening on a very broad scale,
all the way up.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
To the state level.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Because yes, it was great that Green Line was able
to purchase a lot, and you know we just closed
us grow on our second lot and we have many
more in the pipeline. But we're one organization, right, This
is much much bigger than one organization, and so just
you know, one organization buying one off lots here and
there is not going to be enough to scale the
(21:25):
land banking effort. And the good news is that that's
well known, right, that's well known among policy makers, that's
well known among other organizations. And so what those conversations
look like right now is how can we scale this effort?
How can philanthropy participate, recognizing it will have to involve
debt as well, because philanthropy alone can't do it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So what is that?
Speaker 3 (21:49):
What are those debt structures look like? And who are
the participants? Right?
Speaker 2 (21:53):
How can we deploy large funds, you know, a significant
amount of funds toward this effort to then be disseminated
to implementing nonprofit organizations and stakeholders that can purchase these
lots in a manner that's consistent with their mission and
values that have been.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Identified in the rebuild.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Right, It's going to take more than just us, more
than just any organization, and we need the funds for it.
And you know, I think there's I think it's important
to consider what the long term strategy will be, but
I also think concurrent with that and I've said this
in so many spaces. There have to be some immediate
funds deployed because these speculative investors are.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Not waiting for our long term plan to take shape. Right.
Speaker 5 (22:39):
It's a race.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yeah, that's right, that's right. And it's a race.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
And foundations aren't really known for moving that quickly or
state governments. I mean, these are not things that are
speedy historically. What speedy are grassroots reactions because I'm taking
care of my neighbors, right, But that's right. So what
you talked about, there are conversations around how to scale it.
Can you help us understand what those conversations are?
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Now?
Speaker 5 (23:04):
What are even some ideas?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
Yeah, I mean, and really it comes down to a coalition, right,
a coalition of identified entrusted nonprofit stakeholders, policymakers you know,
so government, so a public private partnership in that way,
and a large pot of funds being deployed and centralized. Right,
So centralized funds to then be deployed for implementing organizations.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
That are on the ground doing the work the land
banking effort.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Right, there's a sense of you know, how can we
ensure that you know, one the funds are deployed quickly,
like you said, And two that they're going to the
right place right and going to the right organizations. So
that's part of the coalition, you know, forming that's that's
happening right now, is to identify those players.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
Can I ask, just are you optimistic?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
So here's the thing, No one starts a nonprofit organization
unless there's some sense of optimism that they can change
something that's wrong, right, that they have identified a problem
that they feel like they can do a small part
in trying to solve. So I think from that standpoint, yes,
I am optimistic. When it pertains to the long term
rebuilding of Altadena, I am also optimistic, but cautiously so
(24:20):
because there are so many things that have to happen
in order for it to be effectuated in a way
that is holistic, that is equitable, that does not leave
individuals or groups of individuals behind.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And so yes, I'm cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
But there needs to continue to be centered community and
community organizations and organizations on the ground because we have
a pulse of what is needed in the city. Faith
institutions know what their congregations need, you know, Youth service
programs know what their youth and what the family needs.
Housing providers know what their constituents need, So it has
(25:00):
to involve and informed and be shaped by the community.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
And that is huge.
Speaker 5 (25:10):
What's one thing you wish people understood about what's going
on that you think is getting overlooked or is being misunderstood, just.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
How important it is. One, like you said, for capital
to be deployed quickly. Two for holistic and comprehensive support
for people who have been impacted by this fire. I'm
not even limited to.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Just do you need actual funds to rebuild, which is
one of the things that Greenline is focusing on in
our long term plan is giving assistance up to two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars per family to stand in
the gaps in and above what insurance or FEMA will cover.
But even you know, apart from that or separate to that,
it's comprehensive. The mental health told that this has taken
(25:51):
on the community is significant. As a resident of the
community who was also displaced and I live in Eaton Canyon,
I still.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
Have not moved back home.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
There is a and we still have a home to
move back to, and there's still been a mental health
component so for someone who lost everything there, it's very weighty.
And I think that that's what we're hearing among the
people that are that are looking to us for help
and support, is how am I going to think about rebuilding?
I'm still I'm very traumatized right now. Right, So this
(26:21):
kind of holistic, comprehensive support that needs to happen for people.
And also, we were in a housing crisis before the fire,
right There was a shortage of housing before the fire,
So there needs to be a focus on getting people
housing stability in the interim before they can even think
about rebuilding, which is why Phase one of our plan
(26:41):
is helping people locate, procure, and pay for long term
temporary housing in or as close to the community as possible,
and helping to remove some of those barriers to access
for people who maybe aren't all of a sudden position
to pay market rent right after a lot of seniors
were impacted and they're unfixed income, right, And so how
do we connect resources with people to get that housing
(27:01):
stability so that we can achieve the long term objective,
which is everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Rebuilding and staying in the community, right, And so I.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Think that that's something that needs to be really really
spotlighted as a crucial component to this recovery effort. It's
just so much it's insurance and insurance, right, Like a
lot of people were underinsured, and so how are people
going to be insured?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
Will they be able to get insurance if they stay
and rebuild? What will that look like?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Right?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
The cost of materials because of you know what's happening
federally and with tariffs. How is that going to impact
the cost of rebuilding for people who already have very
very tight margins When it comes to that, it's a lot, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:43):
It is.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (27:48):
Last week we heard from La City Council President Marquis
Harris Stawson about preserving black culture and place through Destination Crunshaw.
He's back with us today to reflect on Altadina, where
he grew up and what made it feel like a
safe and powerful community. Here's Marquise, What do you remember
about growing up in Altadena that you hope is permanent and.
Speaker 6 (28:09):
Is not lost. What I appreciated about Altadena is it
was like living in a small town that was really
a big family and there was a broad enough cross
section of the community. So there were people who were
very poor that were housing projects there, and there were
also people who were well off, you know some of
the I remember a house that a very famous black
(28:33):
inventor lived in and you know was I guess wealthy
by those days standards. And you could go from one
neighbor to the other in the bosom of the black
community and one feel safe, but two feel like there
were resources available to you and people everybody pulling for
you to do your best as a young person and
(28:54):
to realize your full potential. Also, you know that there
was an enforcement that anybody who came in and did business,
you cannot make our people uncomfortable. You can't make young
people uncomfortable. There's none of this following young people around
the store or having projects that are inaccessible. It just
(29:15):
was a real familial environment that felt safe almost everywhere
you went.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
I think that's such a good response because that's not
a thing that can be burned down, right, Like the
feeling that you're talking about can be preserved, right.
Speaker 4 (29:29):
So how do you do that?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
What do you think needs to happen?
Speaker 6 (29:32):
You know what's interesting, You know, you show up to
a place like Altadena and it's done at least kind
of like you know it when you see it, how
it was built is you know. I mean, I'm a
big student of history, and so I know a little
bit of the history of Altadena and the first settlements
in that part of the world of African Americans who
were migrating from the South. But what was done in
(29:54):
each decade and each year to create that fabric, you know,
as something that I think be studied for a long
long time. Fortunately, Altadena has things like churches that are
nearly one hundred years old. They have some community organizations
that are nearly as old, if not a little bit older.
And so those institutions are important because they preserve the
(30:16):
history and they can tell you what happened, you know,
at different junctures. So you can go back and look
and say, oh, what did Altadenans do during the Great Depression?
Speaker 3 (30:24):
Right?
Speaker 6 (30:24):
What did Altadenons do during the Great Recession? What did
Altadena do when southern California had huge earthquakes and property
was damaged? There is a basis to go back and
look at that and understand one what was done right
to produce what we have, and also to see what
opportunities were missed in that time period that we can
seize in this moment.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Yeah, you have to get lessons from history and from
other things going on. So I'm going to ask you
to try to draw a connection. I don't know if
one exists, but is there a lesson to be learned
in Altadena and rebuilding and preserving its history that can
be taken from this destination Crenshaw Monument?
Speaker 6 (31:02):
And well, yeah, absolutely. I think the lesson that can
be learned from Altadena that I hope we take to
heart in the Crenshaw district is ownership. Ownership and ownership
that passes from generation to generation to generations. You know,
one of the biggest problems in Altadena after the fires
was the number of single family homes that were registered
(31:27):
to people who had passed away and had been deceased
for over twenty years. You know why that was because
the houses stayed within the family, and no one ever thought,
I'm going to go down and change the name from
grandma's name to this name. People just live in the houses,
they have their families, they grow you know, people grow
up and some people stay around. Other people's move on.
(31:50):
But the point is that the significance of ownership so
that even in the face of a catastrophe. You can
only be moved out if you volunteer to move out,
And some people are choosing that. I don't mean to
say that nobody. I mean, you know, I I one
of the an older woman that that is older now
(32:11):
who lived in the community when when I live there,
you know, is in our eighties. And she's like, I
don't want to spend the rest of my time rebuilding
a house. It's like, you know, I.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Built this house.
Speaker 6 (32:19):
I know how long it takes and how much of
a how much work it is to build a house.
I don't want to spend the rest of my time
doing that. I'm moving back down South. But at least
she has a choice, and the choice isn't being dictated
to her by someone else or imposed on her or
the neighborhood by someone else. It's her decision, and she
can go to her neighbors and say, hey, I'm going
to sell. What do you guys want to do? Do
(32:40):
you want to pull your money and buy it? Do
you have a relative that you want to move in,
do you have a coworker, or do you you know
somebody else that you think would be a good neighbor
And can also you know give me the compensation I
need from my house. But because you own, the choice
is yours and the choices with the community as with
an outsider.
Speaker 5 (33:04):
Land banks and community land trusts are tools being used
all over LA County. There's the land bank we've talked
about for Altadena. There's also an effort in Crenshaw where
groups like Liberty Hill Foundation are using the land trust
model to help residents stay put with support from organizations
that care like green Light Housing. These communities are fighting
to hold onto ownership and power even after disaster. Here's
(33:27):
Jasmine with a word of advice for anyone in Altadena
or facing a crisis like this, one who might feel
overwhelmed and is still deciding their next step.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
The advice that I would give would be.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Pause right, And I've shared this and other nonprofit partners
have shared this in spaces that we've been in together.
It's just you just got a pause, Like, don't make
any rash decisions. These investors are trying to come in
and solicit people and seduce people with like fast money
so you don't have to think about it, and exploit
people's overwhelm. Just pause right. See what help and resources
(34:01):
are out there? Identify what you even need, because there's
a sense that people don't even know. It feels overwhelming
and they don't know what they need. They don't even
know what's possible, they don't know the options, and so
we're trying to work with an organization to do that
kind of case management from the building paint scenarios, identify
and quantify a gap, so then there's a sense of ah, Okay,
now I can be informed to make a decision. It
(34:23):
doesn't all feel so overwhelming and like abstract concepts. So
that's the advice that I would give and have been giving,
is just pause.
Speaker 5 (34:31):
That's good advice. And thanks for being there for your
neighbors even though you've been affected, and for your whole community.
It's really valuable.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
So thanks so much, absolutely, thank you.
Speaker 5 (34:57):
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Next City, a
show about change makers and their stories. Together we can
spread good ideas from one city to the next city.
Thank you for listening this week. Thank you to our
guests Jasmine Schooper, founder and executive director of Greenline Housing Foundation,
and LA City Council President Marquise Harris Dawson. Thank you
to next Citi's Eleana Paroso for her reporting on this story.
The story was produced through our Equitable Cities Reporting Fellowship
(35:20):
for Anti Displacement Strategies, which is made possible with funding
from the Robert wid Johnson Foundation. Our audio producer is
l Von Alcala, Our show producer is Maggie Bowles, our
executive producer is Ryan Tillotson, and I'm Lucas Grinley, Executive
director for Next City. By the way, Next City is
a news organization with a nonprofit model. If you like
what we're doing here, please consider pitching in to support
(35:40):
our work. Visit nextcity dot org slash membership to make
a donation. We'd love to hear any feedback from our listeners.
Please feel free to email us at info at nexcity
dot org and if you haven't already, subscribe to the
show on Apple, Spotify, good Pods, or anywhere you listen
to your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Pret
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