Santa Rosa at a Crossroads After 5 Percent of Homes Destroyed by Fire

The most destructive wildfire in California history has left Santa Rosa at a fateful crossroads.

Wildfires have destroyed 5% of the housing in Santa Rosa. (Credit: Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times)

The city lost 3,000 homes — fully 5% of its housing stock — in the fire. Thousands remain displaced, and many are not sure where they will end up or whether they can continue to afford living in wine country, where housing is expensive and in chronically short supply.

“Nobody has been through this before,” Mayor Chris Coursey said Monday. “We had a housing problem three weeks ago; now we have housing problem minus 3,000 more houses.”

Many residents said they intended to rebuild as soon as possible. But officials are just beginning to work out how that will happen — and many wonder where they will live in the meantime.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

from KTLA http://ift.tt/2yHLwy0