From Newsgroup: alt.home.repair

The California Department of Transportation has spent more than $17
million since 2020 to guard the homes, which it purchased to make way for
a freeway that was never completed.

In spring 2020, activists illegally seized more than a dozen publicly
owned, vacant homes in Los Angeles, arguing that the state shouldnAt leave
its own houses empty during a homelessness crisis.

Since then, a lot of taxpayer money has gone to preventing others from
doing the same.

State officials have spent over $17 million in the last six years on
private security firms and extra police patrols to protect hundreds of
homes, including dozens that are empty, that were acquired decades ago for
a failed freeway expansion through the San Gabriel Valley, according to records obtained by POLITICO from the California Department of
Transportation. The hefty price tag brings additional scrutiny to a long- running housing and transportation saga, which has drawn international attention and come to symbolize the sluggish response by local and state officials to the tens of thousands of people living on the streets of Los Angeles.

Today, while Caltrans leaders tout the sale of several dozen vacant
properties to local governments and housing organizations, most of the
homes remain in limbo, and the agency says itAs running out of cash to
make required repairs. Agency officials defended the security expenses as necessary to protect public safety and thwart further attempts to seize houses. Yet activist groups behind the 2020 occupations said that
explanation underscores their original claim: The state is more willing to take measures to stop people from living in empty homes than to house
them.

oWhat we were doing was common sense,o said Estuardo Mazariegos, Los
Angeles co-director of the Alliance of Californians for Community
Empowerment, a statewide advocacy organization for low-income tenants that helped organize the protests. oWhat they responded with was more of the
same.o

When transportation planners drew up CaliforniaAs highway system in the
1930s and a40s, they envisioned the 710 Freeway would connect a 30-mile stretch between the port of Long Beach and the San Gabriel Valley. Most of
the road was built, but sustained outcry and lawsuits from homeowner
groups stalled construction of 4.5 miles at the northern end. Efforts to complete the freeway were officially abandoned in 2018.

In preparation for the road project, Caltrans acquired 460 properties in
three affected communities, Pasadena, South Pasadena and the El Sereno neighborhood of Los Angeles. They ranged from small multi-family buildings
and undeveloped lots to tidy bungalows and Craftsman mansions. The agency rented the homes, but over time let many fall into disrepair and left them vacant. Most notably, the 115-year-old, 2.5-story house in Pasadena where famed chef Julia Child was raised has been empty for decades.

The freewayAs demise coincided with soaring rents and an explosion of homelessness in California, while a cumbersome legal and regulatory
process stalled plans to sell the homes.

State and local tenant activists targeted El Sereno, a working-class
Latino community where many of the vacant homes are clustered, for their protest. The group broke into houses across a few blocks and opened them
to homeless people and others living on the margins. The action, which overlapped with the initial stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19
pandemic, produced such a negative spotlight that Gov. Gavin Newsom
intervened to ensure that the protesters would not be removed. Ultimately, negotiations between the group, oReclaiming Our Homes,o and state and
local officials led to many of the so-called oReclaimerso signing
agreements that allowed them to remain in the houses for two years.

Their success led to further attempts at seizures, notably a coordinated effort over Thanksgiving 2020 that resulted in California Highway Patrol officers, clad in riot gear, hauling out would-be occupiers and arresting
more than 60 people.

California taxpayers spent more than $17 million to guard state-owned
homes since 2020
Annual spending on private security contracts and additional police
patrols to guard dozens of empty homes in Los Angeles County.

Graphic showing Caltrans' annual spending on security guards to protect
state owned homes since 2018.
2M
4M
$6M
2018
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24
'25
The California Department of Transportation spent nearly seven times more
on security in 2022 than it did the previous year. Spending soared after activists seized empty houses in 2020.
$210K
$268K
$369K
$878K
$6M
$5M
$3M
$2M
Note: 2025 data is through Oct. 28.
Source: California Department of Transportation
Liam Dillon/POLITICO

Caltrans records show security spending rose from about $250,000 annually prior to the 2020 to nearly $900,000 in 2021 before soaring to more than
$6 million in 2022. That year, the agency switched private security firms
from Inter-Con Security to Good Guard and relied on $2.4 million in
additional CHP patrols.

Yearly spending has dropped since, but the price tag in 2024 was about $3 million, 15 times higher than before 2020, records show.

Caltrans officials have maintained that the agency has needed to guard
homes not only to defend against more attempts at squatting, but also
because many of the vacant homes arenAt safe to live in due to plumbing, electrical and other habitability problems. They blamed escalating
security costs on the continued threat of occupations.

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oCaltrans remains committed to its responsibility to maintain public
safety and to steward state assets appropriately,o spokesperson Eric
Menjivar said.

Menjivar said the agency is reducing security patrols as vacant properties
are sold but expects to continue paying for services until the entire portfolio is liquidated.

Val Marquez, an El Sereno homeowner for more than 50 years, said the
height of the protests turned his neighborhood into a owar zone.o An
increased police presence, he said, led residents to have a greater sense
of security despite the looming uncertainty around them.

oEven though we were safe, there was still a dark feeling,o said Marquez,
75.

Still, Marquez believed it should not have cost as much as it has to guard
the houses.

oItAs ridiculous,o he said.

The ballooning security budget comes as Caltrans is struggling to drum up money needed to complete sales of the homes. A complicated and oft-amended state law requires the agency to offer them to existing tenants. For homes occupied by low-income residents, Caltrans has to sell them far below El SerenoAs median home value of $762,000, including some for less than
$35,000, and pay to fix them up beforehand.

About 100 homes with low-income tenants are in escrow, but only three
sales are close to done as contracting procedures have delayed repair work
for nearly two years, said Carolyn Dabney, the Caltrans program manager overseeing the sales. Making matters worse, Dabney told the California Transportation Commission at a briefing this month, the average repair
cost is exceeding $100,000.

oThe rehab account is at risk of being depleted prior to all properties
being repaired,o Dabney told the commission.

The agency has prioritized the sale of vacant properties, she said, with
local governments and affordable housing non-profits purchasing nearly 60
over the past two years. Another 18 sales are pending, Dabney said.
Caltrans officials did not respond to a question about how many homes in
its portfolio are empty, but agency records from 2024 indicated there were
135 at that time.

State Sen. Mar0a Elena Durazo, a Democrat who represents El Sereno and authored legislation on the sales, said it was vital for lawmakers to
ensure the properties would be maintained as affordable housing, rather
than auctioning them off to the highest bidder. Doing so took time and, as
a result, an on-going need for security, she said.

Durazo said she didnAt know enough details about the security billing to determine if it was excessive. But she supported a robust public safety presence, especially with the continued threat of break-ins.

oIt was important for that community, which had been through so much, to
have that security,o Durazo said.

For the Reclaimers and their supporters, however, the sales delays and
public safety spending havenAt matched the urgent needs of people living
on the streets. Sandra Saucedo was sleeping in her car before she seized a Caltrans-owned property in the spring 2020 protest. She was evicted this
year after turning down offers of cash payments and referrals to other
housing in exchange for decamping because she believed the new options wouldnAt be permanent for herself and her 17- and 21-year-old sons. Now, Saucedo, 43, is staying in an RV, and her sons have moved in with their father.

She remains angry that, in her view, othese homes are being hoarded.o

oThe politicians arenAt doing anything and people with the need are going
to take risks,o Saucedo said. oI donAt blame people for taking shelter.o

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/03/california-owns-dozens-of-vacant- houses-in-los-angeles-county-its-paying-millions-to-guard-them-from- protesters-00632550

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