President Trump’s foray this week into the fireplace rebuilding course of in Pacific Palisades has been met with confusion and rolled eyes from native officers who say he’s now railing towards initiatives which have by no means even been proposed.
Trump mentioned Thursday he deliberate to cease a low-income housing challenge from being developed in Pacific Palisades. His promise, made throughout a Cupboard assembly, marked the second time this week he has weighed in on native housing points within the fire-scarred Palisades.
“They wish to construct a low-income housing challenge proper in the course of all the things within the Palisades, and I’m not going to permit it to occur,” Trump mentioned. “I’m not going to let these individuals destroy the worth of their homes.”
The feedback left politicians round Los Angeles and California scratching their heads: what low-income housing challenge was the president referring to?
Each Councilmember Traci Park and Mayor Karen Bass mentioned they didn’t know of a significant, low-income housing challenge coming to the Palisades.
“There are not any plans to carry low-income housing to the Palisades,” Bass mentioned in a cellphone interview with The Instances on Thursday from Washington, D.C. “It’s not true. There couldn’t probably be a challenge that neither the councilmember nor the mayor would have any data of.”
Trump additionally took intention at Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday as he introduced an govt order to “preempt” town’s allowing course of to make it simpler for fireplace victims to rebuild.
The order, if carried out, would permit residents to self-certify to federal authorities as a substitute of going by metropolis forms for permits.
Bass mentioned Thursday that she would welcome an govt order that might carry the insurance coverage and banking industries collectively to assist Angelenos whose homes burned down get extra important insurance coverage payouts and longer-term mortgages.
The Governor’s Workplace additionally mentioned that they had no thought what low-income housing challenge Trump was referring to on Thursday.
“The president of the US is a bumbling fool and has no thought what he’s speaking about,” mentioned Izzy Gardon, a spokesperson for Newsom. “This narrative that Gavin Newsom is making an attempt to construct high-density, low-income housing within the Palisades and switch them into ‘Newsomvilles’ is absurd.”
Gardon mentioned the state is offering assets for builders to rebuild below-market-rate housing that was destroyed within the Palisades fireplace, which tore by the beach-side enclave in January 2025, killing 12 and destroying 1000’s of properties and constructions.
In July, the governor dedicated $101 million to assist rebuilding efforts of “reasonably priced multifamily rental housing within the fire-devastated Los Angeles area.”
The financing was for areas affected by each the Palisades and Eaton fires.
This system permits reasonably priced housing builders to use for financing and prioritizes initiatives which can be close to wildfire burn areas, prepared for speedy building.
This system required the developments to stay reasonably priced for greater than a half-century to obtain the funding.
Trump didn’t specify Thursday whether or not he was talking concerning the July announcement or a couple of particular challenge.
“That was cash that went to the L.A. space for the 4 communities impacted by the fires to assist builders to rebuild low-income mixed-use housing that was destroyed by the fires,” Gardon mentioned.
Maryam Zar, a Palisades resident, mentioned that many within the Palisades feared a brand new challenge on the location of a Shell fuel station that developer Justin Kohanoff mentioned he needed to construct into an eight-story, 100-unit, low-income constructing.
Kohanoff’s father, Saeed Kohanoff, declined to remark past saying the household has no speedy plans to develop the property.
The Trump administration didn’t instantly specify what low-income housing challenge, if any particularly, the president was talking about.
