Trump Breaks the Rebuild Gridlock
Thousands of wildfire victims in California are finally seeing movement on the one thing they needed most: permits to rebuild. After months of delays, the process has sped up in the Pacific Palisades, the Eaton fire area, and other hard-hit communities. For families who lost homes, the slowdown had become its own kind of heartbreak. A house can be destroyed in a night. Rebuilding it should not take forever.
The change came after President Trump signed an executive order in January to fast-track the Los Angeles rebuild. The order let federal action override certain state and local rules when it came to permits, and it also allowed builders to self-certify that they were meeting key health, safety, and building standards. In plain English, it cut through a lot of the paperwork that had been holding people up.
The numbers show a real shift. The administration says nearly 2,000 permits have been approved since the order was signed. Los Angeles County has issued 971 permits, which the EPA said was a 72% increase. Los Angeles City has issued 961 permits, a 58% increase. For people stuck in limbo since the fires, that is not a small fix. That is the difference between waiting and actually getting started.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin credited the move directly. “President Trump’s January Executive Order was a bold move to break through the non-federal logjams that had held up lives, homes, and entire neighborhoods from being rebuilt. Since that EO, we’ve helped drive nearly 2,000 permit approvals,” Zeldin told The Post. He also noted that the EPA had handled cleanup of hazardous materials left behind after the fires, which cleared another major hurdle for rebuilding.
That is what this comes down to. People lost homes, businesses, and years of their lives to the fires. They did not need more delays, more excuses, or more government foot-dragging. They needed action. This time, they got it. And if the permit numbers keep moving, more families may finally be able to put shovels in the ground and start over.
Since President Trump’s January EO, almost 2,000 new permits have been approved for LA wildfire victims desperately trying to rebuild their homes. From his leadership to get insurance companies to do more and faster, to pressing for more forest management, water flow, and more,…
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) April 22, 2026