16 months after LA fires, only dozens of homes rebuilt. StackHaus pledges $750K for 500 survivors
The Californer/10347933

PASADENA, Calif. - Californer -- Sixteen months after the January 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed 16,246 structures, the recovery is failing on two fronts: almost no homes have been completed, and the few being built aren't engineered to survive the next fire.

As of May 20, 2026, LA County had issued 2,647 rebuild permits in Eaton/Altadena but recorded only 52 completed new residences. Pasadena finaled just 5. An April 2026 POLITICO analysis found only 34 homes rebuilt across Pacific Palisades and Altadena combined, with 5,704 of the 9,900 destroyed lots yet to file an application. A May 2026 engineering analysis by fire protection engineer Nate Wittasek, P.E. found only 15–25% of current rebuilds include hardening beyond California code minimum.

StackHaus, an end-to-end platform for designing, financing, building, and managing disaster-resilient homes, today announced a $750,000 pledge providing free pre-feasibility studies — typically valued at $1,500 — to 500 fire-affected homeowners, first-come, first-served through May 2027.

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Unlike traditional builders that hand homeowners off between architects, lenders, insurers, and contractors, StackHaus manages the entire rebuild under a single fixed-price contract: financing, insurance recovery, FEMA navigation, grants, permitting, and full ground-up construction. Homes are delivered fully resilient as standard — non-combustible concrete structure, Class A roof, ember-resistant vents, fire-rated openings, and a five-foot non-combustible perimeter, all built to IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home Plus alignment and verified by third-party inspection.

"Engineers have known how to make a home survive a wildfire for twenty years," said Malik Shabazz, founder and CEO of StackHaus. "The problem isn't engineering — it's that the math, the financing, the insurance, and the construction were never anyone's single responsibility. StackHaus was built to be the one team that owns the entire rebuild."

The program prioritizes homeowners in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena, Malibu, and Topanga whose primary residences were destroyed in the January 7, 2025 fires. Eligible homeowners can apply at stackhaus.co/StartRebuild.

Media Contact: William O'Connor, Communications, StackHaus · Hello@stackhaus.co · (626) 219-2627