Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued the following statement today after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the FY 2026-27 Supplemental Budget:
“Altadena’s recovery is a long-term commitment and this budget shows that the County can’t carry it alone. We have identified more than $2 billion in damaged or destroyed public infrastructure from the Eaton Fire. These are unmet needs, and rebuilding will take resources well beyond what the County can shoulder. This makes federal funding–including disbursement of existing FEMA funding as well as long term supplemental disaster aid–critical right now.
Across our wildfire-impacted communities, the Disaster Case Management Program is also currently carrying nearly 1,400 active cases—with more than 1,000 of those representing Eaton Fire survivors alone. About 700 additional families remain stranded on a waiting list, anxiously awaiting the dedicated support needed to secure housing, resolve insurance disputes, and navigate rebuilds. Without the immediate release of approved federal funding to sustain and staff this essential program, hundreds of vulnerable families who are still waiting in line will be left without a clear path home.
This $54.2 billion budget that we approved today is largely tied to specific programs, legal mandates, or one-time revenue. We must stay within our means while protecting the core services our most vulnerable rely upon most.
That discipline must also apply to homelessness. In the first full budget cycle for the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing, today’s action provides $4.5 million to address encampments in very high fire severity zones and a $1.3 million investment in contract monitoring. I worked hard to create this department so we could track every homeless service dollar and outcome with transparency. I will keep pressing for exactly that.
“My priority remains the same: more treatment beds, more crisis capacity, and getting people with serious mental illness into care, not cycling through our streets and jails.”