Benito Flores, who more than five years ago seized a state-owned home in El Sereno to protest against homelessness in Los Angeles, has died.
A 70-year-old retired welder, Flores had been fighting to remain in the home. Last month, he and a group of supporters prevented Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies from evicting him from a small duplex on a narrow street in El Sereno.
As part of the eviction defense, Flores constructed an elaborate tree house 28 feet high in an ash tree in the home’s backyard, where he planned to retreat if police attempted to haul him out.
In the six weeks since the failed eviction attempt, Flores continued to fortify the property, including building additional defenses in a second tree in the backyard. Supporters believe that Flores died after falling out of that tree.
On Friday afternoon, a neighbor found him unresponsive on the ground near the tree with his safety harness broken, said Roberto Flores, who operates a private community center in El Sereno and helped organize the ongoing protests.
“He’s a martyr for human rights, for the decent right of housing for everyone,” said Roberto Flores, who is not related to Benito.
Benito Flores was the final holdout in a protest that captured nationwide interest when it began in March 2020.
Flores and a dozen others occupied empty homes owned by the California Department of Transportation, which the agency acquired by the hundreds a half-century ago for a freeway expansion that never happened.
The activists, who call themselves “Reclaiming Our Homes,” argued that the true crime wasn’t breaking into empty houses, but rather that publicly owned homes were left vacant while tens of thousands of people lived on the streets of Los Angeles.
Backed by a wave of public support, the dozen “Reclaimers” were allowed to stay legally in Caltrans-owned homes for two years through a temporary lease agreement managed by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. When that expired in late 2022, Flores and many Reclaimers attempted to remain in the properties, saying the alternatives offered by the housing authority were insufficient to keep them permanently housed.
But as eviction threats mounted, some of the protesters began accepting settlements to leave and others were evicted. Flores continued the fight.
He told The Times on the eve of the June eviction attempt that he wanted to make a statement about political leaders failing to provide housing for all who need it. Flores suffered from diabetes and said if he was removed he would have had no other option except to sleep in his van — where he lived for 14 years before the home seizure.
“Who is supposed to give permanent housing to elders, disabled and families with children?” Flores told The Times last month. “It is the city and the state. And they are evicting me.”
About 50 mourners gathered at Flores’ home Friday night for a vigil and ceremony honoring his life and activism. His body, covered with a white sheet, remained in the backyard and supporters placed flowers on it after paying their respects.
The official cause of death remains under investigation. Personnel from the L.A. County Medical Examiner arrived at the property Friday evening to remove the body and begin their examination.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
