California freeways are fueling the housing crisis

By Yesenia Perez and Hana Creger, especially for CalMatters

This comment was originally posted by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Guest Comment written by

Highway expansion is not just a transportation issue; it is one of the most overlooked drivers of California’s housing crisis.

It did not come as a sudden crash; it was a slow erosion, a silent form of displacement that pushed thousands of families from their homes. And this is not just a legacy of the past; new projects planned across the state continue to displace families.

In San Mateo, for example, 33 families near the proposed Extension of Highway 101/92 are facing forced eviction from their homes. Versions of this model are being rolled out in California: The California Department of Transportation, known as Caltrans, is forcing families out of their homes to widen freeways, then demolishing what’s left.

In other cases, the agency buys out neighborhoods for projects that are stalled or canceled, leaving the community trapped in limbo. For many of the affected families, no real choice — eminent domain only, buying under duress or slowly removing living conditions.

A prime example is the 710 freeway project in Los Angeles County. Caltrans 460 families were evicted for a highway that was never built after decades of community opposition, environmental lawsuits and skyrocketing costs. But the defeats were inflicted, suspending an entire community between displacement and dissolution. Caltrans has spent more than $17 million from 2020 just to keep the vacant properties.

“Because they never built the highway … hundreds of properties are falling apart. Many of them are damaged,” said Raymond Gutierrez, an architect and community advocate, “We feel like the neighborhood is a slum, but it’s not. These buildings could be people’s homes.”

His words reflect the stark reality: State policy repeatedly chooses highways over people who stay put.

The latest government figures show that from 2018 to 2023 Caltrans destroyed 623 homes and businesses to make way for 13 highway expansion projects. Most of the homes lost were inside low-income communities of colormostly in Los Angeles County.

New data from the state show an additional 248 homes and businesses were demolished for highway expansion in 2024, mostly in the Inland Empire region.

And that’s only during a narrow window of time. Prior to 2018, California did not require public reporting of displacement, but Los Angeles Times research found that more than 10,000 families have been displaced by highway projects over the past 30 years.

Lack of transparency is exactly the reason The Greenlining Institute created his own Homes Before Highways also interactive mappingl, which brings to life data showing where freeway expansion has destroyed California homes and businesses in recent years.

Freeway expansion destabilizes entire communities. Demolition shrinks housing supply and limits affordable options for families.

Families displaced by highway projects face rising rents, fewer housing options, and longer commutes to work and support networks. As residents are pushed further from job centers, they are forced to spend more on transportation, now the second largest expense after the house.

Yet the justification for widening and shifting the road – traffic relief – rarely materializes. Extensions do not reduce traffic; they make it worse by causing more driving.

The widening of Interstate 405, for example, worth $1.6 billion. Located in the west and south of the Los Angeles area, the project went over budget and caused the demolition of 20 homes and three businesses. That too made traffic and commutes worse after completion.

California has better, proven options. Investments in public transport, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure and electric vehicles reduce transport costs and take cars out of congestion without forcing families out of their homes and disrupting communities.

California’s elected leaders face an urgent and fundamental choice: They can continue to spend billions on expansions that exacerbate the housing crisis but never provide meaningful traffic relief; or they can invest in a transportation system that reflects California’s champion values: accessibility and community well-being.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.