The tools – including programs and capital – needed for a rapid recovery should be designed and distributed in ways that are equitable and accessible to all individuals and communities. Understanding options for homeowners, tenants and business owners in the rebuilding process and financing will be critical. Access should be designed to be inclusive and participatory and build support for organizations that have been historically marginalized from the recovery economy. The knowledge and opportunity to participate in the planning and implementation of any recovery plan must involve and be accessible to all.

Amid the devastation, let’s imagine the recovery as an opportunity to build stronger community and neighborhood bonds. The presence of goodwill and selflessness evident in emergency relief efforts demonstrates the untapped power of a neighbor-to-neighbor mobilization and acknowledges that local government can only do so much when it matters most. Rebuilding with a focus on solidifying and leveraging these public and private networks and increasing connectivity between neighbors and neighborhoods will ensure these networks are stronger and more adaptable for the next emergency.

Public money for the recovery must be deployed through an equitable procurement process.  Business as usual will only benefit the few. All cities and agencies involved in the recovery must build targeted capacity-building efforts and flexible capital programs to introduce and advance local and minority- and women-owned businesses in the procurement process. The public procurement economy during the recovery is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for greater private sector growth and the formation of a robust ecosystem, one that eliminates barriers to entry and mobility across government contract markets at the federal, state, and local levels.

We need to work with local officials to help expose individuals and companies that may seek to exploit vulnerable residents amid the higher demand for housing and other services. This vigilance should include protections for construction workers to guard against their exploitation and require government contracts to include robust labor protections.

Our recovery agenda must include a focus on the livelihoods of the working people—restaurant workers, domestic workers, gardeners, childcare providers, and others—that are the backbone of many of our communities. The recovery will not be complete unless immediate emphasis is placed on stabilizing and supporting essential workers and the organizations that will support them through the recovery efforts.  We should imagine a program that allows early and temporary activations for displaced commercial and retail businesses and rebuilding efforts that prioritize job pipelines for displaced workers.

The scale of the devastation requires a bold rethinking of the planning of neighborhoods and areas at risk of climate related disasters. While the urgency of rebuilding is paramount, we must resist adhering to antiquated city planning policies in the face of rapid, systemic climate change. Let’s build with the mindset that we are preparing for the next emergency across our region and not in response to the previous one.

An essential element in building a more resilient metropolis is increasing urban density and building taller and greener in higher-resourced areas of the City with less climate-related risk. These new policies must include rapid permitting procedures linked to greener and climate-resilient design, by-right development that expedites the construction of new units, and greater affordability.

The urgent need to immediately initiate recovery projects may result in a reluctance to take the necessary time for appropriate land use planning. There will be pressure for immediate action, and some will say it would be too costly or politically risky to plan for the future while people and businesses need immediate support. However, we need to anticipate that another emergency is just around the corner, and building the same way, given the realities of climate change, is wasteful and unethical.  We need to resist the urge to do “business as usual” in all aspects of the recovery, especially regional planning and policy.

Ensure all new structures in fire-prone areas are rebuilt with fire-resistant designs and materials and include landscaping that reduces fire danger.  Do not wait for insurance companies to demand these interventions. Local and state government should expect more of owners and builders.

The nonprofit community has stepped up in a truly remarkable way, providing immediate, urgently needed aid to our neighbors. Somos is committed to providing support to our friends and colleagues in the nonprofit sector who are providing services on the ground to those most in need and will seek opportunities for partnership with them in the months ahead. Fund organizations that avoid redundancy, promote deep collaboration and are doing work to support people and communities that are most at-risk.

We need to prioritize mental health and emotional support in our recovery efforts. Funding should prioritize long-term mental health for survivors, especially children and other vulnerable populations.

Somos recognizes the need to rebuild the neighborhoods destroyed by the fires. However, we also see the need to have an honest conversation about areas that may not be viable for new human habitation. For too long, we have been subject to a mindset that nature must adapt to human behavior, and we are now paying the price. We must honestly explore whether the resources we deploy are best spent to enable communities to relocate rather than to simply rebuild above the ashes. We must do serious thinking about how we can best use the resources necessary to build a safer, more humane city of the future.

We can learn from international examples of communities building temporary structures, adding modular units and innovative construction techniques with minimal intervention and resources to activate vacant lots and restore the local economy while we rebuild. Experts like street vendors, owners of small construction businesses and other leaders in our informal economy can lead us in this effort, and government should facilitate reduction of barriers to building in this way.

Cities and neighborhoods have been down this road before. Lessons learned from Katrina, the Maui fires and other catastrophes must be used as playbooks for best practices and potential solutions to the challenges we face following a disaster.  And closer to home, we have faced other calamities like earthquakes and the civil unrest of the 1990s, where communities have come together to rebuild based on a shared commitment to building a stronger, more equitable city for future generations.