After touring the devastation of the Eaton fire on Thursday morning, March 6, with Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Scott Turner, the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, didn’t hold back his thoughts on what he’d just seen.
“I’m unashamed to say that my heart is broken to see that families have gone through this devastation, to see that children have gone through this devastation. It saddens me,” he said at a news conference outside Fair Oaks Burger in Altadena.
“What encourages me is to see people coming together … ideating and strategizing together, asking hard questions,” he said. “How can we rebuild? How can we rehabilitate? How can we get our lives back?”
Turner’s visit to Altadena came as the fire-weary town marks two months since Jan. 7, when the mammoth fire tore through much of the town, resulting in at least 17 deaths, along with the destruction of about 7,000 structures over 14,000 acres.
Homes. Schools. Houses of worship. Businesses – reduced to rubble in the monster blaze’s relentless, extreme wind-driven path.
Speaking before a backdrop of that rubble, in the parking lot of an iconic local restaurant that’s been providing free food to workers and emergency personnel, Turner said his department will remain focused on “serving the most vulnerable,” despite talk of extensive personnel cuts targeting his agency in Washington, D.C.
Just before his tour, HUD announced a 90-day extension of its foreclosure moratorium on Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single-family mortgages in the areas of Los Angeles County devastated by the January 2025 wildfires.
The moratorium prohibits mortgage servicers from foreclosure actions on FHA-insured single-family forward or Home Equity Conversion mortgages in the Los Angeles County through July 7, 2025. The moratorium was originally set to expire on April 8, 2025.
Barger said her team is working to help homeowners who are facing financial problems to obtain grants to help them rebuild.
“That’s something that we’re going to be working on … at the local level, through a lot of philanthropic organizations to see if there’s going to be any grants for families so that they can build back better,” she said.
Barger called the HUD extension on the moratorium a “lifeline” to people who are “facing immense hardship.”
‘Laser focused’ amid looming cuts
Turner’s visit comes weeks after his boss, President Donald Trump, toured the devastation in the Palisades, where the Palisades fire, which also broke out on Jan. 7, consumed nearly 24,000 acres, destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and left 12 dead. Trump was in the Palisades on Jan. 24 and Turner – a former associate pastor and football player in the NFL – was ultimately confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Feb. 5.
After a disaster, his agency comes in to provide added federal recovery support after agencies such as FEMA and the Small Business Administration work to meet immediate needs in an area. A key function of the agency has been funding housing and other support for homeless people across the nation.
But Turner’s visit also came as the Trump administration looks to cut personnel and programs in federal agencies, as identified through Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE and overseen by Elon Musk.
The Associated Press reported in late February that there are plans to reduce HUD’s staffing by about half.
More than a dozen programs within the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s portfolio would be affected by the loss of some 4,000 positions detailed in documents obtained by the Associated Press, raising concerns among former HUD officials and housing advocates who say a skeletal staff could slow or even stall the department’s critical work.
HUD representatives said such leaks should not be taken as final. The AP reported that the documents, which aren’t clearly dated but were circulated back in February, include total staffing numbers, expected resignations, as well as a projected “Day 120 Headcount” and reduction percentage of staff at individual HUD offices.
But among those potential cuts is reportedly disaster relief.
The Office of Community Planning and Development — which the documents propose cutting by 84% of its staff — is the arm of HUD that helps repair homes and infrastructure after natural disasters, administering $1.65 billion sent to North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
It also oversees homelessness initiatives and the Community Development Block Grant that funnels billions of federal dollars to local governments for community development programs, such as libraries or affordable housing.
On Thursday, Turner spoke to the question of such cuts after his tour of the area.
“We’re taking inventory of every program at HUD to ensure that the programs that we have are carrying out the mission that we have at HUD … We’re maximizing our budget. We’re taking inventory of our personnel,” he said.
“But understand … We will continue to be laser focused and deliberate about the mission that we do have,” Turner said, citing housing affordability and rampant homelessness, especially in California, as issues being faced. “We want to insure that HUD is committed, that the administration is committed, to help the families that are victims of the wildfires,” Turner said.
Two months worth of lessons
Barger, who is effectively the de facto “mayor” of the unincorporated town of Altadena, recounted several lessons that have been learned from the rebuilding efforts over the past two months, including how little faith people have in their government.
“I’ve made the commitment to lean in hard, because the community’s leaning hard on me,” she said, promising to keep her departments on their toes in the process.
“I’ve told my departments, ‘If I find that you are part of the problem, then you’re gonna either find a new job or get out of the way,’ because people expect from us to do everything we can,” she said.
Along with citing the importance of semantics in identifying those impacted by the fire as “survivors” and not “victims,” Barger said she now sees the importance of educating people about financial predators as soon as possible.
“There are people out there that are predatory in nature who are trying to take advantage of communities, offering well under price for lots, knowing that people are vulnerable,” she said.
Barger said the plan and intention is to keep the character of Altadena intact as they rebuild, noting its vast history as it relates to redlining.
“It’s important for us to protect that history and actually build on it with lessons learned,” she said.
Turner made note of the courage and resolve he’s witnessed among area residents.
“There’s no quit,” he said. “There’s not a give-up attitude here. There’s not a victim attitude here. There’s a victorious attitude here, despite the devastation.”
“I want to encourage everyone to hold on to that resolve and be unified together and working together,” he said. “The government is a convener, a facilitator, but the people working here together with leadership, like the supervisor and others, I believe, will build not only great, swift results but also long-term sustainability.”
Turner said he was blessed and humbled to serve as the secretary of HUD, having faced his own personal challenges.
“I’ve gone through struggles and hardship in personal life,” he said. “I understand what it means to overcome adversity.”
“As I stand here today, I want you all to know I’m with you and that I believe, as we come together as a team, as the American people — and I know the president would feel and say the same — there’s nothing we can’t do,” he said.
Jarret Liotta is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and photographer. The Associated Press contributed to this report.