ALTADENA, Calif. — As flames engulfed a nearby canyon, dozens of residents in a sober-living home fled to an unoccupied building about 30 miles south. The evacuees, many of whom were previously homeless, watched helplessly as their home burned on live TV.
When they awoke on air mattresses the next morning, loss set in. Some feared uncertainty. Others were jolted back to lives they thought they’d left behind.
“I had nothing but the clothes on my back. It just brought back all of those feelings of being homeless and a drug addict,” said one resident, Sean Brown. “Kind of like I was back at square one.”
The large two-story Altadena house, known to staff and residents as Art House, was surrounded by fruit trees and rugged mountains. For many, it was a safe space that enabled them to achieve and maintain sobriety, rebuild relationships, and hold down jobs.
Brown, 35, was among nearly 50 people displaced in January after the massive Eaton Fire destroyed one property and damaged another operated by the nonprofit Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Supported by public dollars, the organization provides housing and behavioral health treatment to people struggling with addiction, many who had been living on the streets. Operators say both properties are uninhabitable and that they are searching for permanent housing for those displaced. …