In 2020, more than a dozen homeless families seized vacant publicly owned houses in El Sereno. The group called themselves "The Reclaimers," arguing that their actions were justified as politicians ordered residents to stay safer at home while COVID-19 spread across the country. Los Angeles Times housing affordability reporter Liam Dillon wrote about one homeless woman who broke into her vacant home 13 years after being forced out. He joined host Lisa McRee on "LA Times Today. "

Maria Merritt, 57, was born in Mexico, but came to the United States when she was 10 years old. Dillon explained how she ended up living in El Sereno after getting a job with LA County.

"It was actually a house on Poplar Boulevard, in El Sereno. And this house only was available because it was owned by the state Transportation Department, which had bought this house and over 400 other properties in El Sereno and neighboring communities to knock them down. The Transportation department wanted to extend the 710 freeway, and so these houses were bought, ultimately to be demolished. And in the meantime, though, while this freeway project was stalled, they were renting them out to people like Maria," Dillon explained. 

Merritt and her family lived in the house on Poplar Boulevard for about nine years. Dillon said that Merritt described her time in that house as some of the best years of her life. But everything changed after her daughter got into an accident in 2004. 

"Maria was with her daughter for an entire month by her side in the hospital. And after that, things really deteriorated. She was diagnosed with depression, mental illness, and then began using methamphetamine. That led to more struggles at work. She ends up losing her job, and then ultimately with a very large back rent owed, ends up losing the house," Dillon shared.

Merritt then lived on the streets for years and lost touch with her children. In March 2020, Dillon said, she heard a group of people were living in the vacant homes in El Sereno, including her old home, and she decided to join them, essentially squatting in the house. 

"When she came into the house again for the first time, it was very emotional for her. She actually found old photographs from the 1990s of her and her kids still in the property. That means no one cleaned it out. Really goes to show kind of how these homes were neglected. They were in really bad shape. This house on Poplar is infested with rats, and so the Housing Authority and Caltrans says, because of this activism, we're going to legalize folks who broke in on March of 2020, and ultimately allowed them to live for two years in other Caltrans properties that had been renovated," Dillon said. 

Merritt still lives in one of those Caltrans properties, but faces eviction.

"She doesn't know where she's going to go next. The Housing Authority has offered her and others some vouchers that would have allowed them to kind of find some permanent rental housing. But her attachment to this home and this community is so great that she really doesn't see herself being able to leave voluntarily," Dillon said. 

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