One year after a series of the most expensive and devastating wildfires tore through California, survivors are still stuck in limbo as red tape, rising costs and stalled aid slow recovery.

California’s strict rebuilding regulations, combined with the scale of the devastation, help explain why rebuilding has barely begun.

The Eaton and Palisades fires scorched a combined 37,728 acres - an area larger than California's Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios combined - destroying more than 16,200 buildings in their path.

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Of those homes and businesses lost, construction has begun on fewer than 600, leaving more than 96% still untouched.

"There are people who are certainly determined to come back and build right away and have the financial resources and the insurance coverage to do that," Jamie Mead CEO of Thomas James Homes explained to Fox News national correspondent William La Jeunesse.

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But Mead says the vast majority of the community is unable to rebuild.

"There are others who don't and many of those have begun the process of selling their home sites," he added.

A major reason is cost. For many California homeowners, insurance coverage simply isn’t enough, forcing them to juggle an old mortgage on a home destroyed by fire, years of rent in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets and the rising costs of rebuilding.

"A lot of folks that I talk to are kind of in limbo land," Compass relator Jeff Salcido told La Jeunesse. "How much money are we getting for insurance? How much time do we have to build? What's life going to be like while we take all that on?"

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Even when homeowners are ready to move forward, the clock is working against them.

Compass Realtor Mark Marquez says that even after permits are approved in a process that can take about two months, it can take another eight to nine months to build a move-in-ready home.

But most insurance policies cover temporary living expenses for about 18 months, a window that often closes before rebuilding is complete, especially with permitting delays.

"All these lots that you see empty, people are not getting insurance money to rebuild," said Sue Pascoe, a Pacific Palisades resident.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For many fire survivors, the choice is becoming increasingly clear: rebuild quickly or walk away.

Source: Fox News - Politics