Next-door neighbors lost their near-identical homes in a California wildfire, but how they are navigating rebuilding is a story of contrasting fortunes and unequal recovery, a stark reflection of the nation’s growing home insurance crisis.

While there has been a growing crisis in insurance for years, the scale and scope of the Los Angeles wildfires brings the issue to a new level, challenging us to ask new questions about how, where and what we build in a changing climate.

Allstate Corp. said it expects about $1.1 billion of losses from the wildfires that ravaged swaths of Los Angeles last month. The anticipated cost partly reflects the Northbrook-based insurer's decision to reduce market share beginning in 2007, the insurer said in a statement Wednesday, when it reported fourth-quarter results.

Fires in the Los Angeles area may result in claims of between 500 million euros ($518.95 million) and 700 million euros for the reinsurer Hannover Re , the company's chief executive Jean-Jacques Henchoz said on Thursday.

Millions of dollars have been raised for victims of the wildfires, including the superstar-riddled FireAid concert, but where is all the money going?

Civic leaders in the region believe that side efforts are necessary to rebuild after the wildfires. They just can’t settle on which one.