Opinion: How home lenders are impeding Californians from rebuilding fire-torn L.A.

Like thousands of other families, in January we lost our Pacific Palisades home to wildfire. Within minutes, every house on our side of the street was reduced to ashes, while those across the street were left untouched.

Five months later, the harsh realities of recovery have set in. We are entangled in a bureaucratic maze: FEMA, the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, IRS and a patchwork of state and local agencies.

Our home was covered by two insurance policies — one through California’s FAIR Plan and one through a private company ...