How Northern California's destructive wildfires could exacerbate the state's housing crisis
by Liam Dillon, Los Angeles Times
Dec 06, 2018
4 minutes
PARADISE, Calif. - Northern California's recent wildfires have burned homes at a greater pace than developers are building them, deepening a housing shortage that already has left millions struggling to find affordable places to live.
Five large wildfires over the past 14 months, with November's Camp fire the most devastating, have destroyed nearly 21,000 homes across six counties. That total is equivalent to more than 85 percent of all the new housing built in those counties over the past decade, according to Construction Industry Research Board building permit statistics.
"We had a housing crisis prior to the fires," said Bob
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