Activists wield bolt cutters in a tense L.A. neighborhood as poor families seize empty homes
She fixed the garbage disposal, turned the garage into a classroom for her 11- and 8-year-old daughters and harvested squash and sweet potatoes from a vegetable garden she planted. Her homesteading, part of an organized effort by tenant activists in March, was illegal, but it worked. The L.A. Housing Authority this fall granted occupancy rights to the family of Escudero and others who had seized numerous homes that the state acquired as part of now-abandoned plans to extend the 710 Freeway. “I feel like it was the best decision of my life,” said Escudero, 41, who works as a caregiver for...
Source: latimes.com