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PASADENA, Calif. () — Communities destroyed by January wildfires in 2025 have started rebuilding, but the widespread devastation left behind cements that the recovery process will take time.
Pasadena City College hopes to pave a path between building new homes and the work force needed to make it happen.
The college’s President Jose Gomez says they’ll train students on construction with the assistance of Habitat for Humanity.
“Our hope is that we’ll… get to a point where we’re building at least 100 homes a year. As you can imagine, that takes a lot of labor. That takes a lot of skilled labor,” said Bryan Wong, CEO of San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity.
“We are going to be training students on construction with the assistance of Habitat for Humanity as we build homes for those disadvantaged folks that lost their homes in the fires last year,” said PCC President Jose Gomez.
The $6.5 million construction trades lab will give students a hands-on, outdoor learning space. There they will be able to use the latest environmental sustainability and fire resistance technology to build new structures.
The college’s goal is to replenish a work force that requires grit and hard work.
“A lot of the labor is aging out. People are retiring and there’s not a big backfill so we’re here to provide that for the work force,” said Assistant Superintendent Laura Ramirez
And students will be able to apply what they learn into helping others.
Pasadena City College’s construction trades lab hopes to be up and running by this spring.
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