Gavin Newsom has asked the federal government to extend disaster-assistance programs for the survivors of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires by a further 12 months, the state announced on Monday. The request, sent to the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the end of last week, would push the cut-off date for the Individuals and Households Program out to July 9, 2027.
More than 16,000 households in Los Angeles County are still drawing rental assistance through the IHP, sixteen months after the Palisades, Eaton and Sunset Fires destroyed roughly 12,400 structures across Pacific Palisades, Altadena and the eastern San Fernando Valley. Rebuilding remains slow: county officials say only around 11 per cent of destroyed residential structures have completed permitting.
The IHP, which is the main FEMA channel for direct cash assistance to individual disaster survivors, was originally scheduled to wind down on July 9, 2026. Without an extension, an estimated 12,000 households would lose monthly rental support overnight; the state's housing department has warned the resulting displacement could be "of itself a secondary disaster".
Newsom's office said the extension request is being supported by California's congressional delegation, including House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries — whose elevation to the speakership in January 2026 has reshaped the political dynamics around federal disaster aid — and Senator Adam Schiff. FEMA acknowledged receipt of the request on Friday but has not yet provided a timeline.
In a parallel announcement last week, the governor unveiled the availability of $70 million in grant funding for community wildfire prevention and resilience projects, drawn from the state's Forest Health Program. The grants are being prioritised toward shaded-fuel breaks around vulnerable communities in Sonoma, Mendocino and Riverside counties.
California's 2026 fire season is already running ahead of historical norms. Cal Fire data shows more than 900 wildfires year-to-date, ten weeks before what is typically considered the start of the high-severity season; the Midway and Catlett grassland fires in Tehama and Yolo counties last week each burned more than 600 acres.
Newsom, who is term-limited and leaves the governorship in January 2027, has spent recent weeks framing wildfire recovery as the most consequential remaining file of his second term. He is expected to tour Altadena reconstruction sites on Thursday.