Disasters Like the LA Fires Always Hit the Poor the Hardest. Trump Wants to Make It Worse.

Before Donald Trump’s inauguration, advocates were already worried about how aid would be distributed to Los Angeles wildfire victims. Recovery money has long favored the white and wealthy.

On Monday, one of Trump’s first moves could make the problem worse. One of his flurry of executive orders eliminated the “equity action plans” government agencies had created as a first step toward reversing the long-term inequities in welfare distribution.

Among those agencies was a top purveyor of disaster assistance: the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Advocates worry that the recent moves could slow progress toward correcting decades of uneven aid distribution.

“You could throw a pin to any state on the map and see a disaster where there was an inequitable distribution of resources,” said Noah Patton, the disaster recovery manager at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The message right now to FEMA personnel is there’s nothing wrong continuing with business as usual.”