Laguna Beach, Calif. ? It will take at least two to three years to restore the hillsides of Laguna Beach’s Bluebird Canyon that came crumbling down this week, but some of the destroyed homes may never be rebuilt, city officials said Friday.

Officials hope to determine the cause of the landslide that damaged at least 22 homes within a week, a critical step if the city and the displaced residents hope to qualify for federal relief, city manager Ken Frank said.

But for the residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the early-morning landslide Wednesday, the relief funds may do little to ease the enormous cost of replacing residences valued at more than $1 million. On average, federal emergency funds provide only $5,000 per homeowner.

“Five-thousand isn’t even a drop in the bucket,” said Vera Martinez, 65, who purchased her now-destroyed home 11 years ago for $300,000. “We’re being portrayed as millionaires because we live in Laguna, (but) some of us are working folks who saved for a long time to be able to live here.”

Geologists will study the slide area to determine if the ground is still moving and whether it is safe to begin the work of cleaning up the debris and rebuilding the hill. The city also will take measures to stabilize the hillside, Frank said, but he said he could not detail what those would be until more is known.

“It will take several weeks before we get any type of useful report,” he said.

Regardless, there will be no significant work, such as road and utility line constructions, at least until next year after the rainy season, which could wreak havoc with construction efforts, he said. The delicate work could take months before homebuilders would be allowed to return.

Ishmael Messer, left, from the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, and state Sen. John Campbell, R-Irvine, tour a hillside neighborhood in Laguna Beach, Calif., where numerous homes were damaged in landslides Wednesday. Hundreds of residents displaced by the landslide that sent multimillion-dollar houses tumbling down a canyon have been allowed to return, but some of them may never be able to rebuild their homes.

Meanwhile, crews will cut a new pathway for Bluebird Canyon creek, which has been blocked by the landslide and may swell with heavy rains.

Most of the 750 to 1,000 residents who were evacuated from about 350 homes were expected to return to their homes today as electricity and running water slowly returned to Bluebird Canyon on Friday.

But for about two dozen families whose houses took the brunt of Wednesday’s landslide, the future is uncertain.

They “will need housing for a few months, or a couple of years, or maybe indefinitely,” Frank said.