ALTADENA, Calif. — The question of how to rebuild in Altadena and how to address the housing crisis is coming to a head with proposed legislation.
It took Matt Maltese years to save up enough money to buy his first home in Altadena, which he bought in 2020 and lost in the Eaton fire in 2025.
Maltese is rebuilding his home, but next door, a developer bought the lot and plans to put several units where there was once a single-family home.
“It’s a five-unit lot. Each unit is going to be 1,100 square feet, two floors, two beds, two baths,” he said.
Maltese is a supporter of proposed legislation that calls for a pause on the development of these types of multi-unit buildings until 2030. Plans for these types of units are being submitted under two different bills that were written to address the housing crisis in California.
One of them allows a single-family lot to be split into two parcels and to hold up to four units. The other allows a previously single-family lot to hold up to 10 housing units.
Altadena residents believe developers are taking advantage of the existing bills to make a quick profit in a disaster zone.
But critics of the newly proposed legislation, like Azeem Khanmalek of Abundant Housing LA, said it cuts off a valuable source of income for residents who may need it.
“Some households can use the tools provided, for example, to split their lot. If they have a large lot, then sell the other piece and subsidize the cost of rebuilding,” said Kahnmalek.
Maltese said he supports and embraces common-sense solutions to creating more housing in California, but has serious concerns about adding density to a city without the proper infrastructure to support that growth.
“We don’t have answers on, okay, is there going to be new schools built, or is there going to be additional law enforcement and fire and emergency infrastructure built?”
Senator Sasha Renee Perez wrote the proposal that would limit multi-unit development and she said the sheer number of applications submitted by Altadena residents to add “accessory dwelling units” or ADU’s on single-family lots, over 220 to date, proves that they actually embraced the idea of creating more housing — when done mindfully.
“Over half of applications that have been submitted for housing, rebuilt housing in Altadena has included ADUs,” said Perez. “I think that shows you just how committed the community is and really wanting to address the affordable housing needs of the region.”
Maltese is now looking forward to August when the proposal goes up for a floor vote in the state assembly.
“I think, out of respect,” he said, “the community should be allowed to bounce back before it’s changed.”
In 2025, just months after the Palisades Fire, Mayor Karen Bass enacted an executive order to block the splitting of lots and construction of multi-unit housing. But recently, both the Palisades and Altadena agreed to drop their bans against the housing bill that allows a lot split with up to four units on a single-family lot.
Still on the table is a ban against the more aggressive multi-unit housing bill that allows up to 10 units on one-single family property.