A $2bn (£1.5bn) lottery winner has bought more than a dozen plots of land left empty by the Los Angeles wildfires, amid criticism of “disaster capitalism”.
Edwin Castro spent $10m buying 15 locations in his hometown of Altadena, which is located a short distance from downtown LA, pledging to restore the “old neighbourhood”.
However, residents are concerned about developers snapping up cheap property from families devastated by the fires, while Gavin Newsom, the California governor, has warned of “greedy speculators taking advantage”.
Altadena bore the brunt of the Eaton Fire, one of several massive blazes which broke out in January, which killed 18 people and thousands of homes.
Mr Castro, who holds the record for the biggest lottery win in history after taking the $2bn powerball jackpot in 2022, said he wants to sell redeveloped homes at market value. He opted to take a $997m (£748m) lump sum before tax instead of $2bn spread out over 29 years.
“I want it to feel like the old neighbourhood,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “Like if you put all those houses pre-fire in a time bubble.”
The profit “doesn’t need to be egregious”, Mr Castro said, adding: “But I’m not building these homes just to give them away.”
However, some residents fear they will be driven out by developers aggressively carving up the area, and according to the Daily Mail a petition to block investors from purchasing property has around 1,500 signatures.
LAist reported last week that of the 241 properties sold in the town through to September, more than half were bought by developers.
“ It’s a textbook example of disaster capitalism, where people are targeted while they’re grieving and overwhelmed,” said Iris Craige, of the Strategic Actions for a Just Economy (SAJE) non-profit, calling it a “second wave of disaster for Altadenans”.
In January, Mr Newsom issued an executive order to protect residents left homeless by the wildfires from “greedy speculators taking advantage of their pain”.
“I have heard first-hand from community members and victims who have received unsolicited and predatory offers from speculators offering cash far below market value – some while their homes were burning,” he said.
“We will not allow greedy developers to rip off these working-class communities at a time when they need more support than ever before.”
A spokesman for Mr Castro told the Mail that the Powerball winner “grew up in Altadena and considers it [his] home”.
“They love and care about the Altadena community and saw an opportunity to invest in it that would also help some impacted homeowners move forward while helping it retain its character and charm,” he continued.
“Many people who were affected by the fires in Altadena cannot or do not want to rebuild and aspire to move on and start over elsewhere.
“These purchases will help some of them, while keeping ownership of the property local.
“They anticipate that half the lots that were purchased will use the pre-existing plans, and the others will remain single family homes with new plans and designs.”
Sign up to the Front Page newsletter for free: Your essential gui
