Episode summary
California innovates a new financing solution for disaster rebuilding
HousingWire Daily
· · 24 min · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: Paul Gigliotti
Summary
California MBA is working with the governor’s office on a rebuild fund for Southern California wildfire victims that would put a proposed $100 million allocation behind disaster recovery. Paul Gigliotti said the plan is designed to close the gap between insurance payouts and the actual cost to rebuild, especially as modern homes cost far more to replace than older ones. The financing package would use loan-loss guarantees, interest-rate buydowns, and other tools to expand access to construction and renovation lending.
Gigliotti argued that the effort is a model for “innovating advocacy”: rather than waiting for policy to be finalized, the association brought data, lender input, and operational insight to the state early. He said the approach was built to be adaptable for other natural disasters and could serve as a plug-and-play template for recovery financing elsewhere.
The episode also covered the rollout of a consumer-facing portal that helps wildfire victims navigate forbearance requests and match with participating construction lenders. Gigliotti said the portal is meant to reduce confusion and give homeowners a practical path from application to lender, while keeping control over how their information is shared. The discussion ended with California Governor Newsom’s appointment of former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra to lead the new Business and Consumer Services Agency, which Gigliotti framed as another moment for engagement, education, and collaboration.
Key takeaways
- Paul Gigliotti said California’s rebuild fund includes a proposed $100 million allocation to help wildfire victims bridge the gap between insurance proceeds and rebuild costs.
- The financing plan would combine loan-loss guarantees and interest-rate buydowns to make construction loans more affordable for disaster-affected homeowners.
- Gigliotti argued that California MBA’s “innovating advocacy” model means bringing data and lender expertise to regulators before policy is fully formed.
- The association launched a consumer portal that can route homeowners to participating lenders and handle forbearance requests through a single workflow.
- Gigliotti said the rebuild framework is intended to be adaptable for other natural disasters, not just Southern California wildfires.
Notable quotes
“the rebuild fund for Southern California has been included in the governor's uh May revise with a proposal of a $100 million allocation”
“we can't just kick the can down the road anymore”
“this can be used for other natural disasters”
“for me, innovating advocacy means we can't wait until policy is fully formed and then react”
“The California MBA is engaged, we're prepared, and we're ready to be constructive partners”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today is Paul Willady, CEO of California MBA to talk about a really interesting financing solution the association has worked with the governor on to rebuild homes affected by the wildfires which could be useful to other states in disaster recovery. I'm really excited about that.
Can't wait to dig in. First, I want to thank our sponsor Total Expert for making this episode possible. And I want to give you the rundown of the top five stories trending on housingwire.com.
Remember, you can get a 20% discount on a subscription with the code podcast 20 so you can read all of our features. News from the MBA secondary conference tops the list with CEO Bob Broeksmit's call for regulators to roll back mortgage rules and a story on FHA looking to eliminate the 90-day flipping rule and revisit its AVM policy. However, a story we just published is climbing fast.
That's Rocket and Redfin launch up to $20,000 saving program. Rounding out the top five is an article written by Jesse Brewer on a common-sense approach to housing affordability and the ever-popular why a 2008 housing crash can't happen again. We have a lot to talk about so let's dive in.
Paul, welcome back to the podcast. Uh thank you very much, Sarah. It's fantastic to be here.
I love the HousingWire team and I always love sitting down and having a conversation with you. You know what? We love having you and I feel like there's so much happening um And why I wanted to have this particular conversation is some things are happening timing-wise that I wanted to highlight.
Um one of the reasons we love looking at what's happening in California is it's such a giant housing market and also from um just a regulatory or legislative point of view, what you guys do in California often becomes um you know, has much bigger impact than just for the state.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- wildfire rebuilding financing
- california mba
- business and consumer services agency
- mortgage rules rollback
- homebuyer savings program
Companies and tickers mentioned
- RKT
- California MBA
- Rocket Mortgage
- Redfin
Watch the episode
Watch “California innovates a new financing solution for disaster rebuilding” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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