squatter

Fuschia Hayes, a resident of the Senator Hotel since 2020, said the reduced security has allowed drug dealers to cycle in and out and squatters to fill empty rooms.

Many squatters in the tent city log in each day to the U.S. government app CBP One in hopes of securing an asylum appointment at the border and being allowed into the United States.

As Benson points out, “The family Steinbeck was writing about was actually a composite of several families he had encountered in visiting one squatters’ camp after another.”

He said that, several months ago, squatters backed a moving truck up to the home, apparently ready to take up residence.

The construction site has been an ongoing issue for the neighborhood, attracting squatters and forcing first responders to put out a number of small fires there after it was abandoned at the end of 2022.