Hudson Idov wasn\u2019t excited about any of his college options \u2014 that is, until his Los Angeles house burned down in the Palisades Fire his senior year of high school. <\/p>\n
Less than a week after graduation, he and one of his classmates enrolled in the carpentry program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, a community college just south of downtown. Their goal is to start a construction company one day and help rebuild the Palisades. \u201cWe have big, big 10-year plans,\u201d he said during a break in his morning class.<\/p>\n
His personal tragedy drove the decision, but he also considers it wise to pursue a high-demand job, especially now. Before the Palisades and Eaton fires last year, Los Angeles was already short roughly 70,000 qualified construction workers. The destruction of thousands of homes and businesses during the fires made that problem even worse. The city now needs over 100,000 new workers in construction and construction-related careers, according to one state analysis<\/a>, which estimates median pay at just under $30 an hour, though it varies depending on the position and the level of experience. <\/p>\n Last year, the state awarded five Los Angeles community colleges a total of $5 million to train more workers who can help rebuild from the Palisades and Eaton fires. The money only recently arrived at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where it will fund supplies and new curricula for students who are entering the construction industry. Pasadena City College, a few miles northeast of Los Angeles Trade-Tech, is using part of the money to build a 55,000-square-foot center<\/a> for construction training. <\/p>\n Historically, it takes years<\/a> to recover after devastating fires, and some California cities hit hard by fires in 2017 and 2018 still have just a fraction of their homes rebuilt.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t put out enough people,\u201d said Jaime Alvarez, one of Idov\u2019s carpentry instructors, as students hammered, sawed and drilled all around him. This semester, Alvarez has about 30 students. The four-semester carpentry program at the technical college is likely the largest such program in the state, enrolling over 1,800 people per year.<\/p>\n Rebuilding the foundation of the Palisades<\/p>\n Idov still lives in an AirBnB with the few belongings he grabbed on the night he evacuated his home. He has some of his clothes and a couple of personal items he could fit in his car, such as a bowling pin from a birthday party he went to as a kid. The rest is gone, he said. <\/p>\n Most days, he starts school at 7 a.m and finishes around noon. He normally spends the afternoons working part time for a general contractor. The carpentry program is designed to take about two years to complete, roughly 25 hours a week. This semester, he\u2019s learning how to build concrete foundations, how to drill rebar into those foundations and to construct the frame of a building \u2014 work that\u2019s particularly needed in fire-damaged parts of Los Angeles. <\/p>\n The extreme heat from fires doesn\u2019t just burn down wood; it also makes concrete foundations brittle and unstable, Alvarez said. His course has to be sparing with its use of concrete, though, since it\u2019s expensive. <\/p>\n Although the college\u2019s construction, maintenance and utilities programs have a total annual budget of over $10 million, most of the money goes to staff salaries, leaving just over $575,000 for many of the supplies students use, said Abigail Patton, the vice president of academic affairs. She said the state grant for fire recovery will help supplement supply costs, including the concrete in Alvarez\u2019s class. <\/p>\n While the state funding is helping, other money recently fell through. In 2024, Los Angeles Trade-Tech was one of the recipients of a $20 million federal grant<\/a> from the Environmental Protection Agency. The college was set to receive $2 million through that grant, part of which went to the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, an economic development organization based in south Los Angeles. <\/p>\n The money was supposed to support the college\u2019s construction programs, where students would learn about home weatherization, lead abatement, and residential energy audits. The federal agency disbursed just over $88,000 of the grant to the Coalition for Responsible Community Development before suddenly cancelling it last May after President Trump took office. Environmental justice groups filed a lawsuit appealing<\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n The Coalition for Responsible Community Development refused to comment about the grant, but the Environmental Protection Agency was unsparing in its remarks. \u201cMaybe the Biden-Harris Administration shouldn\u2019t have forced its radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and \u2018environmental justice\u2019 priorities on the EPA\u2019s core mission,\u201d said Brigit Hirsch, press secretary for the department, in an email to CalMatters. \u201cThankfully, those days are over.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s not all fun and games\u2019<\/p>\n Some short-term community college certificates in construction can lead to high-paying jobs<\/a>, including some that pay over $40 an hour. Many of Los Angeles Trade-Tech\u2019s programs, including carpentry, electrical maintenance and welding, are popular and often at capacity. <\/p>\n But students who enroll rarely graduate. Ultimately, about 33%<\/a> of students who started at Los Angeles Trade-Tech\u2019s construction, maintenance and utilities programs got a certificate, degree or transferred to a university within four years, according to the college\u2019s data from students who started in 2021. Low graduation rates are typical for most community colleges. Many students, especially low-income students, struggle to manage the demands of school<\/a> along with caring for children or aging parents and working full- or part-time jobs.<\/p>\n \u201cWe get floods of students that want to do this, and I say it\u2019s not all fun and games in terms of swinging a hammer,\u201d said Nicole Jordan, who teaches the first semester in the carpentry program. \u201cWe do a lot of math and a lot of book work.\u201d Before Jordan\u2019s students start building anything, they have to study blueprints and Los Angeles building codes so they know what is possible and legally required. <\/p>\n Still, there\u2019s a sense of community among the students, who vary in age and ethnic background. To help them get through it, Jordan\u2019s first semester students have a cheer. \u201cWe the best,\u201d one student yells as they sit in a classroom. \u201cCarpentry,\u201d responds everyone in unison.<\/p>\n After the cheer, Jordan walks up to the white board and the class settles down. She sketches out the blueprint of a home. If they stick around, the students will build that home in just four semesters.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n