[upbeat music] [gulls cawing] [gentle music] - [Nicholas] The superpower I would really want?

To really run fast, like Flash.

[waves crashing] Then another one would be to control lightning that comes, appears, like I'd like to make a little bolt of lightning so it goes around.

[waves crashing] And protect my mom with that.

- Hello?

Hi, my name is Jessica.

Yes.

- Heads up!

It's just me and my son.

Currently, we're living in our car.

[emotional music] [emotional music continues] [no audio] [waves crashing] [gulls cawing] [waves continue crashing] Hello.

Yes, I was wondering how much is a one bedroom, or a studio?

All right, and is it possible for me to view it, or come in to get the application?

Oh.

Well yeah, I do have income coming in.

Does it have to be that amount?

Okay.

All right, well thank you for your information and your time.

All right, bye, thank you.

[Nicholas grunts] - As I said, we've been living in the car, so really, we just go all over the place.

Which is really fun.

We can have a good breeze.

It doesn't have to be like, you have to move out, then be back in.

Pay a thousand million dollars of rent every like month, year.

[emotional music] You can transportate the houses, rides, wherever you wanna go.

That's really how it is in a car.

- I found myself in abusive situations.

Nice homes, nice backyards, pools and Jacuzzis, an abusive situation, and then it wasn't healthy for him.

So, when he opened up to me, and he's like, I'm okay with going to the car.

You know, I like the sound of the ocean, and I like it just being you and me, and that part just broke me down.

I'm like, oh my god, my child just wants the simple things.

[toothbrushes scraping] [emotional music continues] [waves crashing] Let me get in my spot.

Hold on to this.

- [Nicholas] Okay.

- [Jessica] And I have your phone, I think.

Okay, here you go, pick one.

- [Nicholas] But then I miss school.

Like, I love school, and that kind of took away my school time, 'cause we always have to move.

[somber music] [traffic roaring] - Okay.

- Come on, peanut.

- Coming.

- [Nathan] Here's 68, here we go.

All right, drop your stuff off.

- There's another bed in here.

There's another bed in here.

- [Nathan] Oh there's a whole nother room.

- Yep, this is cool, actually.

Told ya.

I really like this house a lot better than sleeping on the floor.

It was annoying to me, 'cause every time I would wake up smelling dirty, 'cause the floor was dirty.

- We came out to California last June, when we first came out here, and I stayed with my family, and then had the big fallout, and we were on the streets.

So, we just had no way to survive.

But I knew that the state gives you help once a year for a motel stay.

So if we could just make it up until that time, you know, a few months, then we would be able to get that motel stay, and I could try to find a job.

Grab 'em.

I don't know which one's which.

They're just all mushed in there.

♪ Baby shark, doo, doo, doo [Skylar babbles] I think I had too much sugar for today.

I've gotta find the rest of these things.

Ooh, wooden dice.

- [Nathan] When your partner is going through recovery, and you are struggling every single day, day to day, to just try to make it to the next motel, or make it to food, or gas, whichever it may be, you're doing everything alone, plus their share.

It's terrifying, sometimes.

- [Skylar] Let's see.

- Here, kiddos.

- Oh, yay.

- Let's come and sit down.

- Food, food.

- He doesn't play with us that long, because he has to do stuff with my mom.

You know, like help her get up, stuff like that.

I feel like he needs to take care of my mom better than us, 'cause she's sick, still kind of a little sick.

Guess what?

- What?

- This is honey barbecue, see?

Read it.

- Hey, Miss Jennifer.

Sorry I haven't contacted you in a while, but I've had a bit of issues with housing, and just like, everything.

- We aren't in school right now, but our dad's trying to find us a new school.

I'm mostly in second grade, and I'm not sure if I'm gonna go to third grade, 'cause I was in first grade, and it's been a while back.

But when I moved to this new school, I was in second grade.

So probably, if I moved to another school, I'll be in third grade.

Every time we go to a new grade, it's harder.

[gentle music] [Nicholas humming] [gentle music continues] - [Nicholas] I start school at nine, and I end school at 1:05.

[bell chimes] - [Jessica] So what is the plan?

How are we gonna do this now?

- [Teacher] See all of your faces, know that you are there.

- While she's trying to get the attendance going, let's try to figure out how we're gonna do orchestra today.

[bell chimes] - [Teacher] Good morning, Nicholas.

- Good morning, good morning.

- Good morning.

- [Teacher] I'm so glad, so happy to see you.

How are you?

- I'm great.

- [Teacher] Excellent, so you'll be playing violin with us?

- I don't have one right now, but I'll just be watching first, to get a heads up.

- So my right thumb, okay?

When I do pizzicato, it goes.

[notes plucking] Okay, I start each, or ants, ants, ants digging in the dirt.

Okay, so, oh my.

- Really, I'll use the most closest material that's like a violin.

I like to hear the violin, 'cause it's like pretty awesome, and especially when you put it here, and it goes.

I think it takes like two years to be a professional at it.

What I wanna be when I grow up?

Well, this is kind of two, when I grow up, and I get not that old or young, just like maybe in the twenties, I wanna be in football, and then when I get older, I wanna be president of the United States.

Yeah.

[emotional music] [kids giggling] - We're boxes.

[kids giggling] You look so funny.

I think all kids should have a house, because it's important for them to learn, and to like be free, and be who they are, and to be their own crazy selves, if they want to.

[gentle music] [truck beeping] My mom told me before that we were gonna get a house, and that we were gonna go inside it.

And also, she told me that maybe we could keep it.

[gentle music continues] - These houses in El Sereno were owned by Caltrans, because they were gonna build a freeway in this area.

The community fought against it, and they've been abandoned, some for 30 years.

- Housing and homeless activists gathered at a vacant home to reclaim it.

- A lot of them also saying that they're trying to reclaim these vacant properties.

- [Reporter] This morning, members said they peacefully moved into several of the state-owned homes.

- Martha Escudero, who is a mother of two, and Reclaiming Our Homes member.

She was the first to reclaim an empty house owned by California.

[gentle music] [sirens wailing] - So after that, my mom opened the door.

That's when everybody started coming.

- This is our house!

- That's right.

- They have reclaimed our house.

- Whose house?

- Our house!

- Whose house?

- Our house!

- Whose house?

- Our house!

[birds chirping] [gentle music continues] - I reclaimed this house for my children so they could have a safe home.

[food sizzling] I feel like a lot of people see homeless people as, they have this stereotype that they're living on the streets in tents.

[kids giggling] Just the fact that there's so many different levels of being unhoused, or housing instability, and the stress that most people are even a paycheck away from being without a home.

[kid babbling] - I didn't do that.

- [Martha] My lowest point as a mother, I feel, was when we were couch surfing.

There was nobody to help me, so I needed to figure out how to help myself.

- [Victoria] I'll still help you.

- I admit I was doing something illegal, but I don't think it was wrong.

When we first reclaimed this house, it was scary, and it still is with a lot of the police being present.

[emotional music] Victoria had a lot of fears, especially of me going to jail.

[engine rumbling] [siren chirping] [Nicholas humming] ♪ Loving with your whole heart [phone rings] - [Voicemail] Thank you for calling LA Family Housing.

To leave a message in a general mailbox, press zero.

Thank you and have a good day.

To repeat this message, press nine.

[computer beeping] - [Nicholas] There we go.

Oh, I'm on level two.

- Hello!

- Hi!

- Do you mind if I come in?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Hello.

Do you mind if I take my mask off?

- Yeah.

- Okay, cool.

- Have a seat here.

Yeah, so this is Nicholas Javier.

- Hello.

- Nice to meet you.

- This is Brittany.

We call her Britt.

- You can call me Britt.

- Yeah.

- Just what I was about to say.

- We call her Britt.

- Brittany Sounds too grown up.

I feel like I'm not, I'm not there.

[Britt laughs] - Okay, so what did you wanna get into, or start with first or?

- So, I've worked at different places helping people get housing, and I feel like I know how to navigate that whole system and whatnot.

- [Jessica] Okay.

- So I wanna talk about that today.

- [Jessica] Okay.

- But yeah, I would also love to just, you know, hear a little bit more about what some of your issues have been with that, and so, what's been some of the barriers of why?

Why it's been hard to keep the job, like childcare?

- I don't have childcare.

- Okay.

- My issue is keeping the job.

- Okay.

- Keeping my housing, keeping my cars, so it doesn't get taken away in the long run.

- Well, when do you guys have to leave here?

Did they tell you?

- She said next month on the 10th, and she's like, you know, I haven't heard anything back from any of the apartments.

She's never really clear.

[somber music] [traffic rumbling] [Skylar humming] [Nathan yawns] - Skylar, what'd you do today?

- [Skylar] We built this Lego house.

- [Nathan] A double decker?

- [Skylar] Yep.

- [Nathan] Nice.

- We built an upstairs floor, and a bottom floor, which is my favorite.

Never built a house like this before.

- I had a job, I was transitioning, and I was supposed to start on Tuesday, and I got the call from the manager stating that they couldn't have anybody come in.

So the job that I was transitioning to was gone.

If there's a help wanted sign, I go in there, and I speak with the manager.

I don't, like okay, gimme the application, I'll fill it out, and I'll give it right back to you, but I want to talk to you.

By the time she's 10 years old, if I'm not out of this situation, then she's gonna be a completely different person.

And I worry about that, 'cause they start realizing that the world works a certain way, and now she's noticing that hey look, Daddy's actually struggling, you know what I mean?

And now the deposit is $3,848, for a deposit on a place that was $750.

It's just been a year long ordeal of living in motels, or living in the car.

Having a job, and then losing a job because, you know, can't go home and go to sleep, so you sit there, and then the next day you're supposed to go to work, but instead, you're sleeping in the car.

So, it's just one of those big cycles that keeps going around in a circle.

[Legos clattering] - I like how we're staying here and stuff, but the hard thing, it's like moving around.

'Cause after we stay here two or three days, we move.

And it's just been kinda hard moving around.

But I mean, I'm fine with it.

I would probably like to live in a house, where we can't move anymore, and all that.

[somber music] [bees buzzing] [birds chirping] - People always think that homeless people are just like, horrible people.

But they're actually, a lot of them are really good people.

They need a house, because every person, whoever they are, it doesn't matter, should have a house.

I wasn't really surprised, because I know there's always gonna be some haters, and all these people that don't agree, because the world has different ideas.

- A lot of the neighborhoods, they were really hostile, and they had a whole movement against the reclaimers.

They called us squatters.

[dogs barking] And so, you know how to write a letter, right?

A regular letter to like a friend, like Sophia or Marla?

What do you put in it?

What do you think would be a criteria?

What do you think, what people should have priority, or first place in being in these houses?

- The people that have kids.

- With families.

- Families, okay.

My daughters are really involved in the movement itself, and my decision to do this.

I didn't just do it for myself, I did it for them.

And so, I let the girls know that sometimes there's a lot of legal stuff that is morally wrong, and we sometimes have to break the law in order to, to have the visibility of how wrong that is.

And so there's a lot of abandoned houses here without families.

- My mom's a really empathetic person, and she's really nice and kind, and she's been through a lot, so I really love her, because she's strong enough to do stuff.

[emotional music] ♪ You'll always know just ♪ How much I love you - [Jessica] Can we just have a mommy and son talk?

- [Nicholas] Okay.

- And I want you to tell me how you feel, and your opinions on things, because you help mommy so much.

So with us checking out, I don't know what to expect next.

You think you can be strong with me?

- Yeah, but I didn't really understand, so it didn't hit me yet.

- [Jessica] Well, we just may not be able to move back in here, and we might have to live in our car for a little bit longer.

- Okay.

- It's just an unfortunate situation, and I have no explanation for it, and I'm not gonna make any excuses for it.

[emotional music] But I want you to know that everything's gonna be okay, and I don't want you to worry about anything, and you can talk to me about anything.

- [Nicholas] I get a little frustrated, because it's like, why is it this way, though?

It doesn't feel right.

But it's like, so unfair, and I want to be somewhere where I could just open up a door, everything can be private.

People don't have to say, or do call the cops, and harass us into going somewhere else.

[birds chirping] [emotional music continues] - To the governor, we are sending this message because you're not doing well with housing homeless people.

We're demanding for you to house people.

There are so much abandoned houses where we could put people.

It's sad to see people on the streets.

They're human, and they deserve a home.

Stop building fancy apartments solely rich people could be.

Have you even seen the streets?

There's a homeless person in every corner.

It is sad that you're just sitting in your office while people are dying.

[emotional music continues] [emotional music continues] [birds chirping] - I'm not gonna get stuck.

- I'm not either.

- [Skylar] I'm gonna try this one last time.

It doesn't work.

- What did you get?

- Eat that one.

Every couple of days, it's between food and a room, and you have to choose.

Like, you just gotta take food for a couple of days over the room, and try to figure something in between that.

- [Child] I need a jacket.

Do you have the black ones, Daddy?

- [Nathan] I don't know.

- Brr, brr!

- [Nathan] Check the trunk real quick to see.

- It's very cold, so.

- I'm looking, I'm looking.

- [Skylar] Sharing's caring, am I right?

- Yeah, I ain't gonna be able to find the leather jacket.

- I guess we left them.

- I would very like to live in a very special place where I can wake up, like you know, not being a mess.

Like being like a little princess, like wake up.

I would mostly decorate it purple and black.

And for the bed, I would have a purple blanket.

And for the decoration, stickers on the wall, I would have daisies on the wall, 'cause daisies are my most favorite.

[emotional music] [emotional music continues] - Let's see!

[gentle violin music] Tadah!

[Nicholas squealing] [Jessica clapping] [Jessica laughing] I'm so happy for you.

[Jessica clapping] I'm so happy for you.

- My dream is to be somewhere really safe, in an apartment.

Somewhere peaceful.

Very peaceful, and joyful.

Somewhere that you can stay calm.

[gentle violin music] What I really wish, and hope for is for my mom to be somewhere safe.

I like to protect my mom, 'cause my mom is everything to me.

I just really want that, all the things that we need to fix, and all that that she was talking about to happen, to become true.

Want me to put this in there?

- [Jessica] Is that everything?

[emotional music continues] [emotional music continues] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [pleasant music] [upbeat music] [dramatic music]