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   From: dei@fired.com   
      
   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 shouldn’t 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 it’s 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.   
      
   “What we were doing was common sense,” 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. “What they responded with was more of the   
   same.”   
      
   When transportation planners drew up California’s highway system in the   
   1930s and ‘40s, 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 freeway’s 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, “Reclaiming Our Homes,” and state and   
   local officials led to many of the so-called “Reclaimers” 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 aren’t 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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   “Caltrans remains committed to its responsibility to maintain public   
   safety and to steward state assets appropriately,” 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 “war zone.” An   
   increased police presence, he said, led residents to have a greater sense   
   of security despite the looming uncertainty around them.   
      
   “Even though we were safe, there was still a dark feeling,” said Marquez,   
   75.   
      
   Still, Marquez believed it should not have cost as much as it has to guard   
   the houses.   
      
   “It’s ridiculous,” 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   
   Sereno’s median home value of $762,000, including some for less than   
      
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