1
00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:04,000
Speaker 1: This is Latino USA, the Radio Journal of News and

2
00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:08,840
Speaker 1: Kurturre Latino USC Latin Latino USA. I'm Maria in no Hossa.

3
00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,560
Speaker 1: We bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered

4
00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:14,720
Speaker 1: to you, overlooked by the rest of the media, and

5
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 1: while the country is struggling to deal with these, we

6
00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,960
Speaker 1: listen to the stories of Black and Latino Studios United

7
00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:24,920
Speaker 1: Latino Front, a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of

8
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:33,680
Speaker 1: the movement. I'm Maria Ino Jossan, Nobayan, Hey, Latino USA, listener, Gomostas,

9
00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:42,800
Speaker 1: Here's a show de los Archivos from Futuro Media and PRX.

10
00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,720
Speaker 1: It's Latino USA. I'm Maria Ino Hossan.

11
00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:46,479
Speaker 2: Today.

12
00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,600
Speaker 1: What happens when you're moved out of your house for

13
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,280
Speaker 1: a highway in Los Angeles and then your neighborhood becomes

14
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 1: a ghost town. We follow the families who are reclaiming

15
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:04,160
Speaker 1: these empty homes. In twenty twenty, as the state of

16
00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:08,800
Speaker 1: California was issuing a statewide mandate to shelter in place

17
00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:14,080
Speaker 1: during the COVID pandemic, about a dozen unhoused families began

18
00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:19,200
Speaker 1: to occupy vacant homes in Elsino. In Northeast Los Angeles.

19
00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 1: Producer Huiarocha is going to pick up the story from there.

20
00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,880
Speaker 3: We found this house and we were so excited. We

21
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:37,119
Speaker 3: were screaming and like just overjoyed. We had community over

22
00:01:37,959 --> 00:01:41,480
Speaker 3: that came and played music. We had some harocho, we

23
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 3: had trancheas.

24
00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:47,000
Speaker 4: That's MARTA's sculero. She's remembering the day she moved into

25
00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,360
Speaker 4: her new house. It's a two bedroom on Sheffield Avenue

26
00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:54,480
Speaker 4: and in Sereno, a residential neighborhood in northeast Los Angeles.

27
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,920
Speaker 4: Martha's living room is filled with books and on one

28
00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,160
Speaker 4: of the walls is a banner that reads housing for All.

29
00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,360
Speaker 3: This is the first room we walked into, and when

30
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:07,520
Speaker 3: we walked into obviously it was empty, and now it's

31
00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:09,280
Speaker 3: filled with furniture and.

32
00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,399
Speaker 1: And him on my art and my rocks.

33
00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,600
Speaker 4: That's Messi, Martha's eight year old daughter. Before Martha and

34
00:02:16,639 --> 00:02:19,800
Speaker 4: her two daughters got to this house, they'd been CouchSurfing

35
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 4: for a year and a half because of skyrocketing rents

36
00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:23,240
Speaker 4: in the city.

37
00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,280
Speaker 3: It was just really bad for us. I had to

38
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,120
Speaker 3: live in places that were cramped, even though family and

39
00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,040
Speaker 3: friends tried their best to help us.

40
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,600
Speaker 4: Martha struggled to find affordable housing for months, but when

41
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:40,440
Speaker 4: the coronavirus pandemic began, finding her own place to live

42
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,920
Speaker 4: became even more urgent. So on March fourteenth of twenty twenty, Martha,

43
00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,919
Speaker 4: with the help of community organizers, decided to occupy one

44
00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,399
Speaker 4: of the many vacant homes in Elserno.

45
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,520
Speaker 3: A few neighbors there were really unsupportive. They would call

46
00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,040
Speaker 3: us squatters.

47
00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,560
Speaker 4: But Martha doesn't consider herself a squad. She calls herself

48
00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:05,600
Speaker 4: a reclaimer because this house she's occupying actually belongs to

49
00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,200
Speaker 4: the government. Today, the state owns about one hundred and

50
00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,040
Speaker 4: forty vacant properties in this area alone.

51
00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:15,840
Speaker 3: The state is literally hoarding these houses that are empty

52
00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:19,240
Speaker 3: while people are suffering on the streets. How is this

53
00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:20,240
Speaker 3: even possible?

54
00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:21,280
Speaker 5: To me?

55
00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:25,359
Speaker 3: That really became important to expose that and to let

56
00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:27,840
Speaker 3: other people know, like this is not right and we

57
00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:29,080
Speaker 3: shouldn't let this happen.

58
00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,920
Speaker 1: Martha moved into the house on Sheffield Avenue in twenty twenty,

59
00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:38,480
Speaker 1: but the story of these vacant homes goes back many decades.

60
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,920
Speaker 5: In this century, America has become a nation on wils.

61
00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,600
Speaker 5: We ride on wheels to work, to shop, to play,

62
00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,400
Speaker 5: to go about any place we want to go. And

63
00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,920
Speaker 5: therein lies the challenge building highways and roads and streets

64
00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:56,800
Speaker 5: fast enough to keep up with a knee.

65
00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,800
Speaker 1: Back in nineteen fifty six, the United States undertook the

66
00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:05,200
Speaker 1: largest infrastructure project of its time, building a forty one

67
00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,360
Speaker 1: thousand mile system of highways that would unite the entire nation.

68
00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:13,720
Speaker 5: These new highways will have a far reaching economic impact

69
00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:16,839
Speaker 5: on the entire nation. They open up vast new areas

70
00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,240
Speaker 5: for suburban living, and they encourage industry to disperse out

71
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:22,160
Speaker 5: of city congestion.

72
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:26,919
Speaker 1: Historically, in Los Angeles and all over the country, freeway

73
00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:35,000
Speaker 1: construction has had a massive impact on housing. While this

74
00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:39,000
Speaker 1: web of freeways allowed the sprawling suburbs of Los Angeles

75
00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:43,360
Speaker 1: to grow, entire neighborhoods were demolished in order to construct

76
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,880
Speaker 1: those roads, and it was usually black and brown communities

77
00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,479
Speaker 1: that paid the price. One of those communities was in

78
00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,480
Speaker 1: El Cerno in northeast Los Angeles. Back in the nineteen

79
00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,640
Speaker 1: fifties and sixties, the California Department of Transportation bought the

80
00:04:58,680 --> 00:05:02,040
Speaker 1: house that Marta lives in and hundreds of other homes

81
00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:07,279
Speaker 1: in order to construct the seven to ten freeway. This

82
00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,760
Speaker 1: is a story of a house in Elo and its

83
00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,040
Speaker 1: residents past and present who have fought to make it

84
00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:20,120
Speaker 1: their home. Back to producer Julia Rocha.

85
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,240
Speaker 4: Driving on a freeway in Los Angeles will get you

86
00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:29,760
Speaker 4: from point A to point B, but if you take

87
00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,400
Speaker 4: the scenic route, you get to see the personality of

88
00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:35,599
Speaker 4: each neighborhood. The East Side of LA has been a

89
00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:40,560
Speaker 4: historically immigrant and LATINX area, intersected by almost every major

90
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:44,000
Speaker 4: freeway in the county. If you drive north, you'll get

91
00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,480
Speaker 4: to Edo, which sits at a crossroads between two worlds,

92
00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,159
Speaker 4: nestled between the working class neighborhoods of the East Side

93
00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:55,600
Speaker 4: and the white picket fences of wealthier suburbs like Pasadena.

94
00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:01,479
Speaker 4: Edo's main street, Huntington Drive, is bustling with restaurants and

95
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,080
Speaker 4: stores decked out in bright murals. According to the most

96
00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,960
Speaker 4: recent census data, ed Serno is eighty one percent Latino

97
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,200
Speaker 4: and mostly lower middle class. The neighborhood's residential streets are

98
00:06:13,279 --> 00:06:16,360
Speaker 4: lined with rows of modest, single family homes.

99
00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:21,039
Speaker 6: My first impressions were, this is what a neighborhood looks like.

100
00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:21,520
Speaker 6: On TV.

101
00:06:21,839 --> 00:06:25,040
Speaker 4: That's Michelle Chavis. She was thirteen years old in nineteen

102
00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:27,640
Speaker 4: eighty six when her family was looking to move into

103
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,599
Speaker 4: a bigger home. Michelle's mom was a file clerk and

104
00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,200
Speaker 4: her dad was a construction worker. At the time, Michelle,

105
00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,400
Speaker 4: her parents, and her younger brother Jamie were all living

106
00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,560
Speaker 4: in a one bedroom apartment in rose Hill, a residential

107
00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,560
Speaker 4: area just a few miles northwest of Et Serno.

108
00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,320
Speaker 6: A pretty bad neighborhood and originally grew up in. You

109
00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,400
Speaker 6: stayed in your house and made sure your doors were

110
00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:51,480
Speaker 6: locked because it was not safe.

111
00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,719
Speaker 4: A single family home had never been an option until

112
00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:59,080
Speaker 4: Michelle's mom heard about an affordable rent program in the

113
00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,080
Speaker 4: neighborhood of Essida. It was run by the California Department

114
00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,279
Speaker 4: of Transportation, better known as Caltrans. Back in the sixties,

115
00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 4: Caltrans purchased hundreds of homes in En Serno, Alhambra, and

116
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,320
Speaker 4: Pasadena in order to demolish them and construct the seven

117
00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,000
Speaker 4: ten Freeway. The freeway began at the port of Long Beach,

118
00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,760
Speaker 4: one of the nation's busiest sites of international trade, and

119
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,800
Speaker 4: connected it to the greater city of Los Angeles. By

120
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:30,320
Speaker 4: nineteen sixty four, Caltrans built twenty three miles of the

121
00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,960
Speaker 4: twenty seven and a half mile freeway route, demolishing hundreds

122
00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,840
Speaker 4: of houses on the east side, But right before the

123
00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:40,480
Speaker 4: construction reached at Serno, the project was halted because of

124
00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:45,000
Speaker 4: community backlash from the neighboring suburbs. While the agency waited

125
00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,760
Speaker 4: for construction to be approved by the legislature, Caltrans began

126
00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,160
Speaker 4: renting the homes it had purchased. At the point that

127
00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:54,920
Speaker 4: Michelle's mom was looking to rent a home in inl Serno,

128
00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,000
Speaker 4: the construction had been in a legal limbo for over

129
00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:00,840
Speaker 4: a decade. She filled out an Apple location for the

130
00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,280
Speaker 4: Affordable Rent program, and when she found out she'd been accepted,

131
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,000
Speaker 4: a Coltran's employee gave her a tour of the houses

132
00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,920
Speaker 4: in Asino. Michelle still remembers what it was like to

133
00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:14,000
Speaker 4: walk through the neighborhood for the first time.

134
00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,280
Speaker 6: No bars on the window. That's the first thing I

135
00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,520
Speaker 6: think my brother and I noticed, just walking through and

136
00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,720
Speaker 6: seeing grass. There were people sitting on their porches. Nobody

137
00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:26,440
Speaker 6: sat on their porches where I grew up.

138
00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,360
Speaker 4: After the tour, Michelle's parents picked out the house they

139
00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:32,360
Speaker 4: liked best, a two bedroom on Sheffield Avenue.

140
00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,319
Speaker 6: Moving to the Sheffield House was actually like an amazing

141
00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,520
Speaker 6: dream because I was getting my own room. We had

142
00:08:39,559 --> 00:08:43,400
Speaker 6: a living room, we had a separate dining room, and

143
00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:46,240
Speaker 6: then we had a fenced yard. It was like we

144
00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:47,040
Speaker 6: hit the jackpot.

145
00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:49,839
Speaker 4: Michelle remembers walking through the house with her brother the

146
00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,800
Speaker 4: day her family moved in. She recalls how a little

147
00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,520
Speaker 4: narrow area by the kitchen caught their attention.

148
00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:58,520
Speaker 6: We were like, oh my gosh, what is this for?

149
00:08:58,640 --> 00:08:58,840
Speaker 7: You know?

150
00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,760
Speaker 6: My dad was like, it's for a washer and dryer,

151
00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:03,800
Speaker 6: and we're like, oh my god, does that mean we

152
00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:05,840
Speaker 6: don't have to go to the laundromat anymore. I think

153
00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:10,240
Speaker 6: that was my brother and my dream.

154
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,920
Speaker 4: But soon their honeymoon phase came to an end.

155
00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,040
Speaker 6: What we started noticing is when bigger things would break,

156
00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,280
Speaker 6: something with the electricity, something with the water. My parents

157
00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:24,520
Speaker 6: weren't getting the response you're supposed to get when you're

158
00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,880
Speaker 6: in a rental, and the sentiment was echoed through many houses.

159
00:09:28,920 --> 00:09:32,760
Speaker 6: They're like, Oh, don't even bother calling because they'll either

160
00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:34,880
Speaker 6: take a month to fix it, or they won't get

161
00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:36,559
Speaker 6: fixed at all, or they're going to tell you they

162
00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,199
Speaker 6: lost your report.

163
00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:42,160
Speaker 4: As the months went on, the family noticed there was

164
00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,160
Speaker 4: no ventilation in the kitchen. There was a leak in

165
00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:49,439
Speaker 4: the plumbing, the garage door didn't open, the phone jacks broke.

166
00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:52,400
Speaker 4: Michelle says, they tried to file a report.

167
00:09:52,559 --> 00:09:54,960
Speaker 6: Each time they're like, oh, well, you have to call

168
00:09:55,000 --> 00:09:59,160
Speaker 6: this number, call that number, leave a message, and that

169
00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,319
Speaker 6: would go on for like a couple of weeks.

170
00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,040
Speaker 4: Michelle was only a teenager back then, but it was

171
00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,440
Speaker 4: becoming clear that something was wrong.

172
00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:11,480
Speaker 6: I mean, bottom line, Caltrans they were slim lords. They

173
00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:13,959
Speaker 6: did not know how to be landlords. There were business

174
00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:19,079
Speaker 6: people working in a government office.

175
00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:21,640
Speaker 4: Then one day, when Michelle was in high school in

176
00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:24,360
Speaker 4: the early nineties, she went to debate club and the

177
00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,800
Speaker 4: topic was Caltrans versus the neighborhood in the battle to

178
00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,760
Speaker 4: build the seven to ten freeway. It was that day

179
00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:34,680
Speaker 4: that she understood why her landlords were a transportation agency.

180
00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:40,360
Speaker 6: I started learning in school about the Caltrans' homes and

181
00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:44,080
Speaker 6: about the seven to ten extension freeway debate and the

182
00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,640
Speaker 6: fight between the neighborhood, and I'm like, wait, that's my neighborhood.

183
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:49,000
Speaker 6: I didn't know that.

184
00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:53,160
Speaker 4: The two sides went something like this. Caltrans wanted to

185
00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:56,120
Speaker 4: finish the freeway because the residential areas along the seven

186
00:10:56,200 --> 00:11:00,560
Speaker 4: ten were booming and traffic was worse than evers of

187
00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,680
Speaker 4: Etceerino South Pasadena and Pasadena didn't want a highway running

188
00:11:04,720 --> 00:11:08,440
Speaker 4: through their neighborhood. For the debate, Michelle took the side

189
00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,079
Speaker 4: of those against the extension and argued that destroying people's

190
00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,040
Speaker 4: homes was too high a price for improving the flow

191
00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,120
Speaker 4: of traffic. What Michelle didn't realize until that day was

192
00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:21,920
Speaker 4: that this debate was not only happening in her classroom,

193
00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,679
Speaker 4: it was also happening in the state government, because Caltrans

194
00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:29,200
Speaker 4: was still fighting in court to continue building the Seven ten.

195
00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,520
Speaker 6: I brought that home to my mom, and she wasn't

196
00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:36,760
Speaker 6: familiar that we would be evicted maybe soon for this

197
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:37,920
Speaker 6: freeway extension.

198
00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:39,000
Speaker 4: You know.

199
00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,520
Speaker 6: It was kind of eye opening to even some of

200
00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:44,280
Speaker 6: the neighbors are like no, like this isn't going to happen.

201
00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,560
Speaker 4: In her neighborhood of mostly low income Mexican American and

202
00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:52,840
Speaker 4: immigrant families, Michelle realized that many of her neighbors didn't

203
00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,840
Speaker 4: know that Caltrans was still planning to move forward with

204
00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:56,840
Speaker 4: the freeway project.

205
00:11:57,760 --> 00:12:02,559
Speaker 6: Sadly, a lot of older people that lived in the neighborhood.

206
00:12:02,600 --> 00:12:06,880
Speaker 6: It was parents who were not highly educated and couldn't read,

207
00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,559
Speaker 6: so their kids were the ones reading things.

208
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,280
Speaker 4: Because Michelle's mom couldn't read very well, she didn't know

209
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,920
Speaker 4: that the housing contract she signed gave Caltrand's the legal

210
00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,640
Speaker 4: power to evict the family if the seven to ten

211
00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,680
Speaker 4: extension was approved. Michelle wondered if there was a way

212
00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,719
Speaker 4: to ensure that they would be able to stay in

213
00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:27,200
Speaker 4: their home.

214
00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:30,160
Speaker 6: So I wrote the assembly member at the time, and

215
00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:33,439
Speaker 6: he wrote me back and he informed me of some

216
00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:38,160
Speaker 6: marches and he thanked me too for volunteering my time

217
00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:44,240
Speaker 6: to fight against this freeway extension. The first rally we

218
00:12:44,320 --> 00:12:48,440
Speaker 6: went to it was in South Pasadena. We started marching

219
00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:52,440
Speaker 6: down the streets and people started joining with just signs

220
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,720
Speaker 6: that had like the seven to ten and the line

221
00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:56,679
Speaker 6: across it. It was very empowering.

222
00:12:57,559 --> 00:13:00,440
Speaker 4: Looking around the rally, Michelle was surprised to see that

223
00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,240
Speaker 4: she and her friends were some of the only Latinos

224
00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:05,559
Speaker 4: and also some of the only cal Trans tenants.

225
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,240
Speaker 6: There was a lot of Caucasian people from the more

226
00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:14,640
Speaker 6: pricier houses up in South Pass because the homeowners around

227
00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:16,839
Speaker 6: there didn't want a freeway, you know, for them, it's

228
00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:18,760
Speaker 6: going to bring down their housing prices.

229
00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,880
Speaker 4: Michelle was beginning to understand One of the biggest reasons

230
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:26,240
Speaker 4: as Sereno hadn't been bulldozed was because the residents in

231
00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:30,400
Speaker 4: South Pasadena and Pasadena knew that if construction went through

232
00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:35,040
Speaker 4: as Serino, their communities would be next. And even though

233
00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:37,839
Speaker 4: as Serno would be the most impacted by the extension,

234
00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:41,679
Speaker 4: it was the interests of wealthier homeowners that carried the

235
00:13:41,679 --> 00:13:45,119
Speaker 4: most weight and that really left a mark on Michelle.

236
00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,800
Speaker 6: I feel it helped me in really deciding what I

237
00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,360
Speaker 6: wanted to major in in college, because I wanted to

238
00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:56,640
Speaker 6: help people like my parents, like my neighbors. And I

239
00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,480
Speaker 6: do believe that Caltrans know that the people that they

240
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,520
Speaker 6: ran into in the eighties nineties, they were low income

241
00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,280
Speaker 6: families who were looking for a better life for their kids,

242
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:08,360
Speaker 6: and they took advantage of that.

243
00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:26,440
Speaker 1: Coming up on Latino USA, El Serno's battle with Caltrans continued,

244
00:14:28,080 --> 00:15:25,040
Speaker 1: stay with us, not hey, We're back, And before the break,

245
00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:28,120
Speaker 1: we were listening to the story of Michelle Chavez. Her

246
00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,960
Speaker 1: family was renting a house from the California Department of Transportation.

247
00:15:32,840 --> 00:15:36,240
Speaker 1: Since she was a teenager, Michelle had been advocating for

248
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,400
Speaker 1: her family, protesting the construction of a freeway that threatened

249
00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:44,560
Speaker 1: to demolish her entire street. But this was only the

250
00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,800
Speaker 1: beginning of her family's fight to stay in their home.

251
00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:50,720
Speaker 1: Back now to producer Juja Rocha.

252
00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,160
Speaker 4: After seeing the disparities her community faced, Michelle left ear

253
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,080
Speaker 4: said I Know in nineteen ninety one to study political science.

254
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,880
Speaker 4: She went on to work in local guy and in

255
00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:03,720
Speaker 4: two thousand and seven she moved to Washington State, where

256
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:07,280
Speaker 4: she lives today. Although she no longer lived in Los Angeles,

257
00:16:07,640 --> 00:16:10,080
Speaker 4: Michelle never stopped helping her mom fill out the cal

258
00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:15,560
Speaker 4: Trans paperwork. Then, in twenty twelve, Michelle got a desperate call.

259
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,920
Speaker 4: Her mom had received a notice that she needed to

260
00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:23,560
Speaker 4: reapply for the Affordable Rent program, otherwise her rent would

261
00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:24,120
Speaker 4: be raised.

262
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,840
Speaker 6: She would send in the affordable rent application and then

263
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,840
Speaker 6: they would say, we're missing some information. It was denied.

264
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,520
Speaker 6: Your rent's going up. And then my mom would send

265
00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,240
Speaker 6: in again and then they're like, well, we never received

266
00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:38,000
Speaker 6: your paperwork.

267
00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,400
Speaker 4: Michelle's family wasn't alone in struggling with the bureaucracy of

268
00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:47,480
Speaker 4: the application. In twenty thirteen, a collective calling itself United

269
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,200
Speaker 4: cal Trans Tenants came together to help residents navigate the

270
00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:56,800
Speaker 4: agency's dysfunctional housing program. One of the lead organizers Iroerto Flores.

271
00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:00,640
Speaker 4: He runs a community center in Esserno called East Cafe,

272
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,359
Speaker 4: and despite its name, it's not a hip coffee shop,

273
00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:08,720
Speaker 4: it's actually a Sapatista inspired cultural center, an activist hub.

274
00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:13,200
Speaker 7: We set up the east Side Cafe maybe eighteen years ago.

275
00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:17,560
Speaker 7: Is a space that developed out of the inspiration from

276
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:23,199
Speaker 7: the Sapatistas to create sustainable structures so that the communities

277
00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:27,280
Speaker 7: can be much more involved in constructing their own future.

278
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,120
Speaker 4: Roberto himself was a Caltrans tenant who had been forced

279
00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:36,040
Speaker 4: out by the rent increases. He and other organizers were

280
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:38,919
Speaker 4: holding workshops at the east Side Cafe to help their

281
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,399
Speaker 4: neighbors with the affordable rent applications. Roberto told me that

282
00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,880
Speaker 4: just a few months before Michelle's mom started receiving these notices,

283
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:51,720
Speaker 4: Caltrans was being audited for possible mismanagement of public money

284
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,160
Speaker 4: after a tenant noticed an invoice for a roof repair

285
00:17:55,520 --> 00:18:00,600
Speaker 4: that cost one hundred and three thousand dollars. The audit

286
00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,200
Speaker 4: found that Caltrans was mismanaging the money spent on repairs.

287
00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:08,399
Speaker 4: They were spending almost ten million more dollars in maintaining

288
00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:11,200
Speaker 4: the homes than they were actually collecting in rent.

289
00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:16,680
Speaker 7: There was obvious corruption going on in the Caltrans' maintenance structure.

290
00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,159
Speaker 4: On top of that, they hadn't verified the income of

291
00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:24,320
Speaker 4: the tenants on the affordable rent program in years, but

292
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,399
Speaker 4: Caltrans put the burden of the lost revenue on the

293
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:32,560
Speaker 4: tenants by making residents continually reapply for the affordable rent program.

294
00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:37,560
Speaker 4: If their application was denied, Caltrans would increase their rent.

295
00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:42,639
Speaker 7: They made things so complicated that their own agents didn't

296
00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:45,200
Speaker 7: know how to fill out these forums or help people out,

297
00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,280
Speaker 7: and so there were years of delays where people were

298
00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:53,320
Speaker 7: forced to pay market rents when they should be paying

299
00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:56,400
Speaker 7: affordable and market rents that were going up at ten

300
00:18:56,440 --> 00:19:00,280
Speaker 7: percent every six months. All these things piled up and

301
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:04,280
Speaker 7: led to people leaving an evictions.

302
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,679
Speaker 4: It was clear to Roberto that Caltrans was trying to

303
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:12,040
Speaker 4: force people out, but the question was what incentive did

304
00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:15,760
Speaker 4: Caltrans have to vacate the properties. When I asked him,

305
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,600
Speaker 4: he told me that Caltrans never wanted to be landlords,

306
00:19:18,920 --> 00:19:21,200
Speaker 4: and their end goal was to demolish the houses.

307
00:19:22,040 --> 00:19:26,800
Speaker 7: They were going to prepare the corridor for a freeway,

308
00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,639
Speaker 7: so they preferred to deal with empty houses than with

309
00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:39,960
Speaker 7: tenants that were increasingly demanding rights.

310
00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,320
Speaker 4: Years passed and more and more Caltrans tenants began to

311
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,840
Speaker 4: leave their homes because of the rent hikes. At this point,

312
00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,720
Speaker 4: Caltrans was still fighting to build the extension. Then, in

313
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 4: November of twenty eighteen, after a sixty year legal battle,

314
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:01,120
Speaker 4: the state of California finally ruled the car couldn't build

315
00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:01,680
Speaker 4: the freeway.

316
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,760
Speaker 8: It was a major milestone today in the now defunct

317
00:20:06,840 --> 00:20:10,199
Speaker 8: plan to extend the seven to ten freeway. Cowtrans just

318
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,320
Speaker 8: sold the first of hundreds of homes that were purchased

319
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,680
Speaker 8: decades ago in preparation for the project, which is now

320
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:18,280
Speaker 8: never going to see the light of day.

321
00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,439
Speaker 4: Now the Coltrans wasn't going to build the freeway, the

322
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,720
Speaker 4: agency said they would begin to sell the homes.

323
00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 6: They still made empty promises. They started making it seem like,

324
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,080
Speaker 6: in the next two years, all these houses will be

325
00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,280
Speaker 6: sol and you residents who've been living in them for

326
00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,960
Speaker 6: more than two years, you get first DIBs.

327
00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,760
Speaker 4: The promise that Michelle's family and many others in INCIDENTA

328
00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 4: were given was actually more than a promise. Back in

329
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:48,639
Speaker 4: nineteen seventy nine, the California legislature passed a bill known

330
00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:52,439
Speaker 4: as the ROBERTI Law. It found that highway construction contributed

331
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,440
Speaker 4: to a shortage of affordable housing, so when a state

332
00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:58,679
Speaker 4: agency like Caltrans no longer planned to use the homes

333
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,280
Speaker 4: for construction, it legally had to offer the property to

334
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:06,919
Speaker 4: low and moderate income tenants at an affordable price. In theory,

335
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,240
Speaker 4: this meant that Michelle's mom could actually purchase the home

336
00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:11,880
Speaker 4: that she'd lived in for decades.

337
00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:14,719
Speaker 6: My mom's like, Wow, I'm a little nervous, you know,

338
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,040
Speaker 6: I hoping I'll be able to purchase this house because

339
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:19,200
Speaker 6: we've never been a homeowner.

340
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:21,960
Speaker 4: The problem was that in order to one day buy

341
00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,040
Speaker 4: your house, you had to stay in your house. But

342
00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,679
Speaker 4: residents were being forced out by rent hikes and complicated applications,

343
00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:35,000
Speaker 4: and even tenants who could pay their rent weren't receiving

344
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 4: sale offers from the agency.

345
00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,400
Speaker 9: There are one hundred and three vacant homes in Elserino,

346
00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,600
Speaker 9: Pasadena and South Pasadena, as the need for affordable housing

347
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,280
Speaker 9: in La is on the rise, ACCOUNTRANS representative said homes

348
00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,639
Speaker 9: have remained vacant partly because the cost to maintain and

349
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,399
Speaker 9: rent them would have cost more than the revenue collected.

350
00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:00,000
Speaker 4: When tenants moved out or passed away. The houses were

351
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:04,480
Speaker 4: boarded up. Today, there are dozens of homes on Sheffield

352
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:10,680
Speaker 4: Avenue with signs that read warning state property trespassing, loitering

353
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:12,000
Speaker 4: forbidden by law.

354
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:15,680
Speaker 6: When I would go home every year, I mean, you

355
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,320
Speaker 6: could go down my mom's block and maybe ten properties

356
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,960
Speaker 6: on her block alone are vacant. This is just one

357
00:22:23,359 --> 00:22:25,840
Speaker 6: piece of Sheffield.

358
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,240
Speaker 4: Michelle's childhood neighborhood was becoming a ghost town.

359
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,399
Speaker 6: I didn't realize what my parents went through until I

360
00:22:37,520 --> 00:22:41,439
Speaker 6: started fighting for them. Until my dad was just getting

361
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,760
Speaker 6: too sick, and he's like I'm done, you know, I

362
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:48,160
Speaker 6: just I can't, and my mom was busy taking care

363
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:48,600
Speaker 6: of him.

364
00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,560
Speaker 4: Michelle's dad had been having health complications for years, and

365
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:57,280
Speaker 4: then in twenty eighteen, he passed away. At a moment

366
00:22:57,359 --> 00:22:59,960
Speaker 4: when Michelle's mom was grieving the loss of her husband,

367
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:03,520
Speaker 4: she also started receiving notices that she had to once

368
00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:07,479
Speaker 4: again reapply for the Affordable rent program. Michelle's mom went

369
00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:09,879
Speaker 4: to one of the United Caltrans Tendants workshops at the

370
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,160
Speaker 4: east Side Cafe, where she met Roberto.

371
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:16,640
Speaker 7: I remember miss Montoya coming in after her husband had

372
00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:19,240
Speaker 7: passed and asking us for help.

373
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,439
Speaker 4: Proerto helped Michelle's mom properly fill out the application, but

374
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,160
Speaker 4: the same scenario played out.

375
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,400
Speaker 6: He sent it in and they said they didn't get it,

376
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 6: sent it in again, said they never received it. Months later,

377
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:37,119
Speaker 6: they said that my mom's rent was being raised again

378
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,359
Speaker 6: and if she wanted to try and get affordable rent,

379
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:42,920
Speaker 6: that she had to fill out an application.

380
00:23:43,880 --> 00:23:47,520
Speaker 4: After decades of fighting to stay in their home, Michelle

381
00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,120
Speaker 4: started to convince her mom to move out and live

382
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:51,240
Speaker 4: with her brother Jamie.

383
00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,240
Speaker 6: We started telling her, I don't think it's safe for

384
00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,919
Speaker 6: you to stay in this house the way they're treating you,

385
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:01,119
Speaker 6: the way they're always losing the paperwork for the affordable rent,

386
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,520
Speaker 6: and my mom it was very difficult for her because

387
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:11,160
Speaker 6: she feels my dad's spirit in that home. She started

388
00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:13,639
Speaker 6: crying because she's like, you know, he's not going to

389
00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:16,200
Speaker 6: leave this house, and we're like, mom, he's going to

390
00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:17,840
Speaker 6: be wherever you are.

391
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 4: Finally, Michelle's mom agreed, and Michelle went back to her

392
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,480
Speaker 4: childhood home to help her mother move out.

393
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:31,159
Speaker 6: So my mom sat in the empty living room and

394
00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 6: she started crying, and then we all started crying, you know.

395
00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:40,520
Speaker 6: And my brother he's a jokester, and he's like, look mom,

396
00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,399
Speaker 6: and he opened a fresh apple pie, and my dad

397
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,520
Speaker 6: loved fresh apple pie, and he's like, okay, Fred, in

398
00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:50,480
Speaker 6: order for you to have a piece of this apple pie,

399
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 6: you got to come with us.

400
00:24:52,240 --> 00:25:03,679
Speaker 10: You know. We were just all cried and hugged her.

401
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:09,120
Speaker 4: After thirty four years on Sheffield Avenue, Michelle's mom left

402
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,720
Speaker 4: the Caltrans house, giving up her dream of one day

403
00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:13,480
Speaker 4: owning a home.

404
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 9: You know.

405
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,320
Speaker 6: It just went through the house one last time and

406
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:21,040
Speaker 6: we took one last picture on the porch. My mom

407
00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,400
Speaker 6: used to be a feisty little lady back in her day.

408
00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,960
Speaker 6: She's like, fuck you, Caltrans, you know, and like flip

409
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:28,360
Speaker 6: the camera.

410
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,040
Speaker 4: In February of twenty twenty, the house that Michelle grew

411
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 4: up in was left vacant. When I reached out to

412
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:42,080
Speaker 4: Caltrans for comment about the staggering vacancies in Encerino, they

413
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:45,080
Speaker 4: put me in touch with Eric Menhivad. He's a public

414
00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:48,920
Speaker 4: information officer at the agency. I asked him what Caltrans

415
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,960
Speaker 4: plans to do with the houses they own.

416
00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 11: We are very aware that there is a housing crisis

417
00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 11: throughout California. Our goal is to sell these homes and

418
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,639
Speaker 11: provide a pathway for first time homeowner shit for our

419
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:04,440
Speaker 11: tenants and the affordable Sales program will very much play

420
00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 11: a large role in meeting.

421
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:09,480
Speaker 4: The school Menhiwad gave me cal Trans's official statement that

422
00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 4: they intend to sell the homes to the families that

423
00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:15,200
Speaker 4: have been living in them. Throughout our interview, I struggle

424
00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 4: to reconcile the agency's official statements with their actions which

425
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 4: have driven out hundreds of tenants, making them ineligible to

426
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:27,960
Speaker 4: purchase their homes. And then at the end of our interview, Eric.

427
00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 11: Told me this, Ultimately, when these homes are ready to

428
00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:36,280
Speaker 11: be sold, Caltrans is obligated to make lender required repairs

429
00:26:36,480 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 11: once selling a property to a current tenant who participates

430
00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,960
Speaker 11: in the Affordable Sales program. So if that home needs

431
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 11: a new roof and the lender requires us to repair it, well,

432
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:47,479
Speaker 11: we will do it.

433
00:26:48,359 --> 00:26:51,359
Speaker 4: I was beginning to understand that in order for Caltrans

434
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,359
Speaker 4: to sell the homes, the agency would have to reckon

435
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:58,119
Speaker 4: with their decades long neglect. So instead of paying for

436
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:02,640
Speaker 4: costly repairs, is holding onto the properties even if they're

437
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,399
Speaker 4: falling apart. With the vacancy rate rising in the neighborhood,

438
00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:10,040
Speaker 4: tenants wanted to find a way to hold Caltrans accountable

439
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 4: and force them to do something about all these empty homes.

440
00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,640
Speaker 4: One of those tenants was Angela Flores. She's the daughter

441
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 4: of Roberta Flores, who we heard from earlier. Angela and

442
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 4: her father were cal Trans tenants since nineteen ninety two,

443
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 4: and they've been working with the neighborhood for years, holding

444
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,200
Speaker 4: workshops to help tenants fill out affordable housing applications, mobilizing

445
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,720
Speaker 4: community members to disrupt evictions, and by twenty nineteen they

446
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 4: were fed up.

447
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 12: Me and my dad thought we got to do something

448
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,439
Speaker 12: about this. We got to shake them up a little, like,

449
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:46,320
Speaker 12: what do we got to do?

450
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:48,440
Speaker 3: How do we got to protest them?

451
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,439
Speaker 4: To Angela, it was shocking that you could walk a

452
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,680
Speaker 4: few minutes from a street of empty homes onto Huntington

453
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,840
Speaker 4: Drive at Satano's main street, where dozens of unhoused people

454
00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:02,400
Speaker 4: were sleeping in tents they pitched on the meridian. Angela

455
00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 4: wanted to do something to get Caltrans's attention and force

456
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:06,600
Speaker 4: them to negotiate.

457
00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:10,840
Speaker 12: We went ahead and started thinking more and more about

458
00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 12: the possibility of occupying a few houses.

459
00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 4: Then, in November of twenty nineteen, Moms for Housing, a

460
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,040
Speaker 4: group of unhoused mothers from the Bay Area, made national

461
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,440
Speaker 4: headlines and caught Angela's attention.

462
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,680
Speaker 2: And men called Moms for Housing are reclaiming vacant homes

463
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 2: so that homeless women can live in them. The group

464
00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,199
Speaker 2: wants to take back properties owned by investors that are

465
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 2: vacant in neighborhoods where the mothers grew up but can't

466
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 2: afford to live there.

467
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:43,840
Speaker 4: By occupying vacant homes, Moms for Housing was pointing out

468
00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:47,520
Speaker 4: that the housing crisis is not actually about a shortage

469
00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 4: of homes.

470
00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:49,360
Speaker 13: We have a crisis.

471
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,040
Speaker 6: Come on, it is an epidemic.

472
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 13: People are dying housing is.

473
00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 4: They According to twenty seventeen census data, there are approximate

474
00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 4: one hundred thousand vacant homes in the city of Los Angeles.

475
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:07,000
Speaker 4: That's nearly twice the number needed to house the estimated

476
00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,640
Speaker 4: sixty thousand people that are homeless in the city. Part

477
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 4: of the problem is real estate speculation. As cities begin

478
00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:18,320
Speaker 4: to gentrify, developers buy up properties and keep them vacant

479
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,160
Speaker 4: until rent prices and the surrounding area go up. But

480
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 4: with six public agencies such as Caltrans and the Los

481
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 4: Angeles School District collectively owning over fourteen thousand vacant properties

482
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,880
Speaker 4: in Los Angeles, it's clear that public institutions are also

483
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 4: contributing to the housing crisis. Angela wanted to bring the

484
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,880
Speaker 4: strategy that Moms for Housing was putting in action to INCIDENTO.

485
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,000
Speaker 12: I was in my bedroom and I was looking on Facebook,

486
00:29:46,440 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 12: and then I saw the article on the Moms for

487
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:55,920
Speaker 12: Housing in San Francisco, and immediately I thought, this is it.

488
00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:59,480
Speaker 4: Feeling inspired by the movement, Angela shared the Moms for

489
00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 4: Housing ste on her Facebook page.

490
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:04,000
Speaker 12: I said, I've had it with all of this. Who's

491
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:07,960
Speaker 12: down to do something like this? And I didn't hear

492
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 12: from anyone except Martha.

493
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:13,840
Speaker 4: That Martha is Marta Escudo, who we heard from at

494
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,280
Speaker 4: the beginning of the story. At that moment, Martha and

495
00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 4: her two daughters didn't have a stable place to live.

496
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 3: When I first heard about Moms for Housing, we were

497
00:30:23,240 --> 00:30:26,440
Speaker 3: at a friend's house. We were sleeping on the floor.

498
00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,760
Speaker 3: We were living off of our bags pretty much.

499
00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,000
Speaker 4: Martha lived in the East Side neighborhood of Boyle Heights

500
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 4: until twenty sixteen. She's the primary caretaker of her two daughters,

501
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 4: and I was working as a case manager at a

502
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:42,440
Speaker 4: maternal and child wellness clinic at the time. One of

503
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,200
Speaker 4: the things she remembers most about her job was a

504
00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 4: feeling of helplessness as she saw the way that not

505
00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 4: having housing impacted the mental and physical health of mothers

506
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:52,880
Speaker 4: who came into the clinic.

507
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 3: These women were suffering a lot, and I couldn't help them,

508
00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 3: and it was like causing me burnout. I couldn't even

509
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,440
Speaker 3: sleep at night sometimes knowing that these women and their

510
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,320
Speaker 3: kids were on the streets or in the cars or

511
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:07,280
Speaker 3: in shelters.

512
00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 4: Exhausted from her job, Martha needed a change of pace.

513
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 4: She had always dreamed of showing her daughters a different

514
00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,400
Speaker 4: way of life, away from the stress of the city.

515
00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:20,560
Speaker 4: So even though Martha was born and raised in la

516
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 4: she made a big decision and left the US.

517
00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:28,440
Speaker 3: We always wanted to get out of the US for

518
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 3: a little bit and sure our daughters what it was

519
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,240
Speaker 3: to live somewhere else, And we have friends in Chile,

520
00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:38,080
Speaker 3: so we figured that'd be the best place.

521
00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 4: But when Martha came back to the US just two

522
00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 4: years later, she says rents and boil heights had tripled.

523
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:51,080
Speaker 3: Coming back was actually really traumatizing. We couldn't find affordable housing,

524
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:52,280
Speaker 3: we couldn't find jobs.

525
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 4: In just two years, Martha found herself facing those same

526
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 4: struggles that she saw countless mothers at the clinic and do,

527
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:03,040
Speaker 4: and as a mom, housing was more than just a

528
00:32:03,120 --> 00:32:05,920
Speaker 4: roof over Martha's head. It was about the health and

529
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:07,720
Speaker 4: education of her daughters too.

530
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 3: It was really obstructing my daughter's learning. I'm a homeschooling mom.

531
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,560
Speaker 3: It's just not adequate with having children. They really do

532
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 3: need their own space.

533
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:21,120
Speaker 4: After eighteen months of living out of a suitcase and

534
00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:24,479
Speaker 4: going from sofa to sofa at her friend's apartments, Marta

535
00:32:24,560 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 4: was ready to take matters into her own hands.

536
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,320
Speaker 3: When I saw a mom for housing and I was like, Wow,

537
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 3: these women are badass, their moms, they have kids, and

538
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,320
Speaker 3: then they took over these homes like they're really fearless,

539
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 3: and I was like, oh, you know, if they could

540
00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 3: do it, I could do it. And around that same time,

541
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,760
Speaker 3: a Khila Flotas from the Eastside Cafe put something out

542
00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:47,880
Speaker 3: that she would like to do something as that mom

543
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:49,960
Speaker 3: for housing did, and I reached out to her and

544
00:32:50,000 --> 00:32:52,520
Speaker 3: she let me know about these houses and Elcadento that

545
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,880
Speaker 3: have been abandoned by Caltrans for so many years.

546
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,960
Speaker 4: Martha was immediately on board, but Angela says when she

547
00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 4: encouraged her neighbors, and they said eno to take up

548
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:07,200
Speaker 4: the strategy. They were reluctant other tenants, they weren't saying much,

549
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,920
Speaker 4: and the kind of feedback that we got was like, well,

550
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:16,280
Speaker 4: I'm not sure because I don't want to get arrested

551
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,040
Speaker 4: or I don't have my papers. The stakes were high.

552
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:25,239
Speaker 4: Even though Moms for Housing had garnered widespread support, they

553
00:33:25,280 --> 00:33:28,400
Speaker 4: were also met with brutal force when the police were

554
00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,760
Speaker 4: summoned to a victim in January of twenty twenty.

555
00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:35,080
Speaker 13: In a pre dawn rate, heavily armed sheriff Stampanese moved

556
00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,720
Speaker 13: in on the vacant home where women and children had

557
00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:42,800
Speaker 13: been living illegally. Four people were arrested after a fifty

558
00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:43,600
Speaker 13: day standoff.

559
00:33:43,840 --> 00:33:44,960
Speaker 3: I'm trying to live.

560
00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,760
Speaker 13: I'm trying to get my kids.

561
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:49,800
Speaker 5: Are you sentimated?

562
00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 4: Marta knew that what she was planning to do was illegal,

563
00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:57,520
Speaker 4: but it was a risk she was willing to take.

564
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,400
Speaker 3: I had a lot of fears, Okay, what if my

565
00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 3: daughters get taken away from me? But also I want

566
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:08,719
Speaker 3: them to be healthy and have their own homes. So

567
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:13,720
Speaker 3: I needed to take that risk, knowing that I couldn't

568
00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 3: do it alone, and That's why it was really important

569
00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:19,000
Speaker 3: for me to establish who am I going to connect

570
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:19,960
Speaker 3: with to help me.

571
00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 4: To support people like Martha on the front lines. A

572
00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 4: coalition was forming, and with the help of two advocacy organizations,

573
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,400
Speaker 4: more and more people were joining the movement. By February

574
00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 4: of twenty twenty, they were having almost daily meetings at

575
00:34:35,920 --> 00:34:36,800
Speaker 4: the East Side Cafe.

576
00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 3: They were letting us know the history of these houses

577
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:45,960
Speaker 3: and how Caltrans has neglected them and abandoned them. And

578
00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,520
Speaker 3: to me, it was so mind blowing because I know

579
00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:50,160
Speaker 3: there's a housing crisis.

580
00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 4: Marta and the other people who wanted to occupy these

581
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:58,040
Speaker 4: houses declared themselves the reclaimers. Some reclaimers were former Caltrans

582
00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:00,600
Speaker 4: tendants who had been living on the street after they'd

583
00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:04,640
Speaker 4: been evicted. Others were mothers like Martha who were urgently

584
00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 4: looking to provide housing for their families. They were getting

585
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,960
Speaker 4: ready to occupy the houses in March, and then COVID

586
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 4: nineteen hit.

587
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:18,640
Speaker 3: We had already planned to do the take on Friday,

588
00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:24,880
Speaker 3: March thirteenth, but then COVID came and people were like,

589
00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,719
Speaker 3: should we still do it? Is it dangerous to do it?

590
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 3: Around this time, a lot of us were like, no,

591
00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:32,480
Speaker 3: this is even more urgent. We need to do it

592
00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:35,880
Speaker 3: now because we wanted to keep our family safe.

593
00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,799
Speaker 4: Although Marta had known the other reclaimers for less than

594
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,399
Speaker 4: a couple months, she had to trust that they had

595
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:48,920
Speaker 4: her back, that they had her daughter's back. On March thirteenth,

596
00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:51,400
Speaker 4: Martha was getting ready to put the strategy in motion.

597
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:54,919
Speaker 4: For the first time. She and another reclaimer were able

598
00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,880
Speaker 4: to open the door to an empty house on Berkshire Avenue,

599
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:00,760
Speaker 4: but only a few hours after they got into the house,

600
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 4: they heard someone at the door.

601
00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,400
Speaker 3: Cal Chance still had the keys and they were able

602
00:36:06,440 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 3: to unlock it, and Caltrans with the police, were able

603
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:12,120
Speaker 3: to walk in then pull us out, and we just

604
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,759
Speaker 3: went voluntarily like there wasn't any resistance. And then the

605
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 3: girls were crying and shaky, and they thought that I

606
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:20,080
Speaker 3: was going to get in trouble.

607
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 4: In that terrifying moment, the other reclaimers immediately came to

608
00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:27,880
Speaker 4: comfort the girls. The coalition had organized a team of

609
00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,880
Speaker 4: legal observers who were able to document the actions of

610
00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,919
Speaker 4: law enforcement and de escalate the situation. In the end,

611
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:37,480
Speaker 4: the officer chose not to arrest Martha.

612
00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:39,960
Speaker 3: That's when I was like, oh cool, Like I can

613
00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:41,880
Speaker 3: trust these people, you know, I can do this again.

614
00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:45,960
Speaker 4: After getting kicked out by the police, Martha immediately went

615
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 4: back to the Eastside Cafe and they began to plan

616
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 4: how they could occupy another house.

617
00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,799
Speaker 3: We you know, talked about what had gone on that night,

618
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:59,720
Speaker 3: and then we just really were urgent to find another home.

619
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,480
Speaker 3: We were running out of options.

620
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:06,239
Speaker 4: But there was still one option left because Angela and

621
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:08,239
Speaker 4: Roberto had a backup plan.

622
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:15,160
Speaker 12: My dad had said, if in the case it doesn't

623
00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:19,080
Speaker 12: go down and worse comes to worse, we have a

624
00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 12: key to one of the houses.

625
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,680
Speaker 4: That key was the key to Michelle's old house on

626
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,520
Speaker 4: Sheffield Avenue. The house had been left vacant since February

627
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:30,319
Speaker 4: when Michelle's mom moved out.

628
00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:33,759
Speaker 12: I said, hey, Martha, I have the key to this house.

629
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 12: Should we do it? She said, yes, let's do it.

630
00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 3: Let's do it.

631
00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:41,400
Speaker 4: On March fourteenth, just as the sun was beginning to rise,

632
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:45,080
Speaker 4: Martha and Angela were standing outside the house on Sheffield

633
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:45,879
Speaker 4: Avenue and.

634
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:47,360
Speaker 12: I didn't even know if the key was going to

635
00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:49,160
Speaker 12: work or not, you know, like or if we were

636
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:49,799
Speaker 12: going to get in.

637
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:56,320
Speaker 3: I remember we were both really nervous.

638
00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:59,440
Speaker 12: I got out the key and I was like, oh

639
00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:02,600
Speaker 12: my god, like, I mean, all you have to do

640
00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,040
Speaker 12: is twist and off, but like we were shaking.

641
00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:06,960
Speaker 3: So we were like, okay, we could do this, like

642
00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 3: take a deep breath.

643
00:38:08,719 --> 00:38:12,680
Speaker 12: So Martha was like, it's all right, calm down. She

644
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:17,080
Speaker 12: was the one calming me down. I opened the first door,

645
00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 12: and then we opened the wooden door, and once we

646
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:24,759
Speaker 12: were in, it was a big like, it was a

647
00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 12: big relief.

648
00:38:28,360 --> 00:38:31,319
Speaker 3: And then my daughters came in and I was really

649
00:38:31,400 --> 00:38:33,919
Speaker 3: tired and happy and overwhelmed and just like so many

650
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:37,080
Speaker 3: mixed feelings just being able to be inside the house.

651
00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,040
Speaker 12: And right away the girls were like, I love this room.

652
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:46,200
Speaker 12: Oh it's beautiful. It's so beautiful. I'll never forget that.

653
00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,919
Speaker 3: I just remember looking out the window and just saying,

654
00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,800
Speaker 3: I'm gonna stay here and see what happened.

655
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,239
Speaker 4: The reclaimers were all over the news.

656
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:04,799
Speaker 11: Publicly owned houses that have been vacant for years are

657
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,439
Speaker 11: now becoming sheltered to the unhoused in El Serno, where

658
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:09,880
Speaker 11: they're reclaiming our homes.

659
00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:11,240
Speaker 12: Movement is in full effect.

660
00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:13,600
Speaker 4: Eventually, Michelle saw the news too.

661
00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:16,440
Speaker 6: I saw the pictures of the little girls like at

662
00:39:16,440 --> 00:39:18,719
Speaker 6: the window, and I'm like that was me. That was

663
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 6: like thirteen year old me. That's why I think it

664
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 6: was bittersweet. I'm happy for them, you know, I'm sad

665
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,239
Speaker 6: that my mom's doesn't have her own place. I'm sad

666
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:31,120
Speaker 6: that my dad is gone. You know, it's just all

667
00:39:31,120 --> 00:39:34,840
Speaker 6: these little emotions. But you know, it's time to move on.

668
00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 6: It was safer for my mom to move on.

669
00:39:47,320 --> 00:39:50,640
Speaker 4: It may no longer be Michelle's home, but she's happy

670
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,959
Speaker 4: that her old house can be a home to someone else.

671
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,440
Speaker 1: Our thanks to producer Jujia Rocha for bringing us that

672
00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:09,239
Speaker 1: story in Since the story ran, Martha and twelve other

673
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 1: reclaimers are living in the once vacant Caltrans homes. Through

674
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 1: their civil disobedience, they were able to negotiate temporary housing

675
00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:23,680
Speaker 1: with Caltrans and the City of Los Angeles. For now,

676
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,800
Speaker 1: the reclaimers are allowed to legally remain in their homes

677
00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:32,480
Speaker 1: for at least two years under a transitional housing program,

678
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:36,359
Speaker 1: but their fight continues as they push for a more

679
00:40:36,440 --> 00:40:57,920
Speaker 1: permanent solution. This episode originally aired in November of twenty

680
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:01,319
Speaker 1: twenty and was produced by Julia Rocha and edited by

681
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:05,120
Speaker 1: Mitra Bonshahi with help from Sophia Palisa car. It was

682
00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,839
Speaker 1: bigs by Julia Caruso. Fact checking for this episode by

683
00:41:08,840 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 1: Amy Tardiff. The Latino USA team also includes Victoriestrada, Rinaldo,

684
00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:19,719
Speaker 1: Leanos Junior, Andrea Lopez Crusado, Roni mad Marquez, Marta Martinez,

685
00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:25,320
Speaker 1: Mike Sargent, Noursaudi, and Nancy Truquillo. Our co executive producer

686
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,920
Speaker 1: is Benni Lei Ramirez. Our director of Engineering is Stephanie Lebau.

687
00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:34,919
Speaker 1: Additional engineering support by Gabriel Abiez and JJ Carubin. Our

688
00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:39,000
Speaker 1: marketing manager is Luis Luna. Our theme music was composed

689
00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 1: by saying Erunos, I'm your host and executive producer MARIEO Posa.

690
00:41:43,280 --> 00:41:46,000
Speaker 1: Join us again on our next episode. In the meantime,

691
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:48,440
Speaker 1: look for us on all of your social media and

692
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,480
Speaker 1: I'll see you there on Instagram. Remember note Bayes Nunka.

693
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:54,120
Speaker 1: A Star Proxima by.

694
00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:00,800
Speaker 4: Latino USA is made possible in part by Californi Endowment

695
00:42:01,120 --> 00:42:04,440
Speaker 4: building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.

696
00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:10,560
Speaker 4: The chan Zuckerberg Initiative and funding for Latino USA is

697
00:42:10,640 --> 00:42:13,640
Speaker 4: coverage of a culture of Health is made possible in

698
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:16,440
Speaker 4: part by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,