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California's hidden homeless: Teachers, chefs, nurses and other middle class workers living in cars
Daily Mail ^ | December 26, 2017 | Emily Crane

Posted on 12/29/2017 7:38:13 PM PST by lowbridge

The rising cost of rent and housing in California is forcing residents into alternative accommodation with middle class workers taking up residence in their cars and RVs by the side of the road to make ends meet.

Hundreds of people, including nurses and chefs, are sleeping in parking lots in affluent areas like Santa Barbara as they make the most of the only homes they can afford.

Marva Ericson, who works as a nursing assistant, has been sleeping in her Kia for the past three months. She wakes up before dawn each day, showers at the local YMCA and dresses in her hospital scrubs to head to work.

'I wake up and I say, 'Thank you God for keeping me safe last night, and thank you for the Safe Parking program',' the 48-year-old told the LA Times.  

Like Ericson, most of the people sleeping rough in their cars are part of the area's Safe Parking program, which is run by the New Beginnings Counseling Center and aims to provide a secure area for the homeless to sleep in their vehicles. 

The program has roughly 150 clients and 40 per cent of those are working but they just can't afford an apartment with the rising cost of housing.   

About 35 per cent of those in the program are seniors and about 30 per cent are disabled. The majority are living out of their small cars with only 25 per cent sleeping in RVs. 

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: homeless
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Full title: California's hidden homeless: Teachers, chefs, nurses and other middle class workers living in cars in parking lots because of the state's crazy property prices
1 posted on 12/29/2017 7:38:13 PM PST by lowbridge
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To: lowbridge

Bad journalism.

A nursing assistant, is NOT a nurse. Big difference. Way too big to confuse the two.


2 posted on 12/29/2017 7:39:50 PM PST by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: lowbridge
Gee ... people are starving in Venezuela and people with decent jobs are living in cars in California ...

Maybe -- just maybe! -- socialism doesn't work.

3 posted on 12/29/2017 7:41:13 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Benedict McCain is the worst traitor ever to wear the uniform of the US military.)
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To: lowbridge

What the hell is wrong with these people?

They should have cargo vans.


4 posted on 12/29/2017 7:43:54 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs, RINOs...same thing)
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To: lowbridge

California is just a typical Blue State.


5 posted on 12/29/2017 7:44:15 PM PST by rockinqsranch (Conservatives seek the truth. Democrats seek the power to dictate what truth is.)
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To: lowbridge

If only they had heard of the “cash for clunkers” plan, they wouldn’t be living in their cars.


6 posted on 12/29/2017 7:44:23 PM PST by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: lowbridge

Just one of a bazillion recent articles in which the denizens of the news media SUDDENLY discover there are homeless people now that a Republican is again President.

Their playbook is so old it’s carved on stone tablets.


7 posted on 12/29/2017 7:45:16 PM PST by JennysCool
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To: lowbridge

When idiot Liberals make housing excessively expensive through restricted development, high taxes and over-regulation, this is what they get: a shortage. So predictable and stupid.


8 posted on 12/29/2017 7:46:44 PM PST by JustTheTruth
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To: lowbridge

9 posted on 12/29/2017 7:49:17 PM PST by \/\/ayne (-.. .-. .. -. -.- / -- --- .-. . / --- ...- .- .-.. - .. -. .)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

In a van, down by the river?


10 posted on 12/29/2017 7:49:18 PM PST by Deaf Smith (When a Texan takes his chances, chances will be taken that's for sure)
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To: lowbridge

I don’t get it. Would you live in your car because you couldn’t afford a home even though you had employable skills? I wouldn’t. I would move to some where I could afford to live.


11 posted on 12/29/2017 7:51:56 PM PST by gubamyster
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To: JennysCool

Well, I don’t know. Can’t remember this being a problem when nobama was president.


12 posted on 12/29/2017 7:55:34 PM PST by upchuck (President Trump is great because he actually runs something other than his mouth!)
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To: lowbridge

The remarkable thing is how this all started last January 20.


13 posted on 12/29/2017 7:55:42 PM PST by SpaceBar
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To: lowbridge

The good thing is that they can move their home and possessions quickly in case of fire.


14 posted on 12/29/2017 7:57:32 PM PST by Rainier1789 (My Constitution has a 2nd and 10th Amendment)
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To: lowbridge

So basically people who try to run the rest of the country if not the world are incapable of running their own state.


15 posted on 12/29/2017 8:05:39 PM PST by BlackAdderess (MAGA!)
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To: lowbridge

California’s hidden homeless: Teachers, chefs, nurses and other middle class workers living in cars in parking lots because of DRUG ADDICTIONS?


16 posted on 12/29/2017 8:09:08 PM PST by Mark (Celebrities... is there anything they do not know? -Homer Simpson)
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To: lowbridge

When idiot Liberals make housing excessively expensive through restricted development, high taxes and over-regulation, this is what they get: a shortage. So predictable and stupid.


17 posted on 12/29/2017 8:13:25 PM PST by JustTheTruth
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To: lowbridge

In Silicon Valley there is a two year waiting list for an RV slot.


18 posted on 12/29/2017 8:13:56 PM PST by Slyfox (Not my circus, not my monkey)
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To: ROCKLOBSTER

True, but I’ve seen some cute little micro-campers made out of things like Ford Transits. If it works for them I don’t see a big societal collapse from people living out of cars or RVs.


19 posted on 12/29/2017 8:17:56 PM PST by bigbob (People say believe half of what you see son and none of what you hear - M. Gaye)
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To: lowbridge

Thank God that I got out of (escaped) SoCal.


20 posted on 12/29/2017 8:19:25 PM PST by know.your.why
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