[TreebeardsUncle]

The middle class are just poor people with big debt loads.

This lady overextended herself.
Let that be a lesson.

PS
One of the clearest indicators that someone will default on their mortgage loan is a boat parked out in front, especially one bought through a home equity loan.

g

[CaptainCanuck]

Around 1955 Nikita Kruschev spoke at the United Nations. He was quoted as saying "We will bury you." The main stream media took it to mean we will destroy you. This was the greatest translator error of all times. It was a literal translation. He was trying to say a widow lives longer so must bury her husband. He was referring to communism lasting longer than capitalism so it must bury capitalism. IMHO the jury is still out.$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'C')oncerned

The predatory class, in peddling their anti-collectivist message, fell for their own lies! Why, we were being told that with the "victory" of capital, we were at the end of history!

End of history alright, fcukkin end of the party more like. And what did it take to sober up these bozos, the depletion of the very resources they were plundering like there was no tomorrow. Ding!

Communism shall rise up triumphant for it is the only NON-CORNUCOPIAN industrial system capable of simultaneously containing our infinite urge to consume within reason and by the application of reason, whilst offering us the opportunity to evolve as a species...beyond the barbaric impulses of blinkered individualism.

Seeing the middle class reduced to their true precarious reality should eventually rid these fools of their idiotic notions and reveal them precisely for what they are, dispensible and heavily indebted labour.

[Judgie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('HEADER_RACK', 'A')nyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. Oscar Wilde

[IgnoranceIsBliss]

Looks like we will be seeing a lot of new homeless folks in these high priced markets. (especially single women & kids) Yes, this woman should have seen a problem in the fact that 75% of her income was going to rent! She needs to scrounge up some gas money and get out of there. Doesn't she have family or friends somewhere? Developing parking lots into homeless shelters is a troubling trend. Pretty soon you will have way too many people in there and then what? It would be better to try to send them to where they have friends or family. Living on someone's couch is better than in your car. At least you would have a phone to try to get a job with.

PS - Her "small SUV" is probably the Honda CRV, same as I have. It's a certified Low Emissions Vehicle. I've only been getting around 22 mpg lately in my 2004, which is disappointing.

[TreeFarmer]

"Scrounge up some gas and get out of there."

Seems to me that she is not only a victim of her own poor money management, she's a continuing victim of her own poor judgement. Why is she camping in her car in an area where if she gets another job she'll barely be able to make it?

One of the biggest mistakes made in this country was the downgrading of teaching Home Economics in school. Way, way, WAY to many people have no idea of how to run a household, plan for rainy days, etc.

Thanks to the banks we became plastic nation and now its time to pay for it. I've been saying for some time now that the finance industry got to be to good for its own good and for the country's good as well.

TF

[lawnchair]

Any midwesterner is of two minds. It's so damned obvious to say "GET THE HELL OUT OF CALIFORNIA, THEN". Give the Dust Bowl Okies two points for common sense. On the other hand, we don't really need her around her, either. We have enough believe-in-magic non-planning types.

Marketing wins, though, don't it? The same marketing that convinced her "you deserve to live in Santa Barbara... everywhere else is terrible" is the same marketing that tells most people "you can't ride a bicycle somewhere, you'll be killed... and laughed at" or "you can't hang clothes on a clothesline... what will the neighbors think".

[burtonridr]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lawnchair', '
')Marketing wins, though, don't it? The same marketing that convinced her "you deserve to live in Santa Barbara... everywhere else is terrible" is the same marketing that tells most people "you can't ride a bicycle somewhere, you'll be killed... and laughed at" or "you can't hang clothes on a clothesline... what will the neighbors think".

[mommy22]

In my small , midwestern town, there is no facility for the homeless...several area churches rotate care of them...a family can spend 1 week at 1 church, then move on to the next.
Actually, what happens to all but that 1 family (in the whole county), is that, around midnight, cars, trucks, and minivans descend upon the Wal-Mart parking lot, and the K-Mart parking lot down the street. That's about the only option for homeless in my community. I guess they are in a well lit area, for safety's sake. I gather WalMart has a general policy for homeless...they can park in the parking lots after midnight or so.
While it's easy to say that this lady (and many like her) was financially irresponsible, nobody knows her full story. She should probably lose the dogs, however...

[wreckspecs]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mommy22', '
')While it's easy to say that this lady (and many like her) was financially irresponsible, nobody knows her full story.

[Sys1]

People living in cars... It reminds me the beginning of Soylent Green.
She should start by eating her fat pet before shifting to cannibalism. The good news is that she won't be able any more to get brainwashed by television.

[pedalling_faster]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('americandream', 'T')he predatory class, in peddling their anti-collectivist message, fell for their own lies! Why, we were being told that with the "victory" of capital, we were at the end of history!

End of history alright, fcukkin end of the party more like. And what did it take to sober up these bozos, the depletion of the very resources they were plundering like there was no tomorrow. Ding!

[MarkJ]

Long before some people become homeless, many stop paying their rent, lease, mortgage, bills etc. This frees up cash and gives them months to find a job, a better job, a second job, another place to live, relocate, apply for benefits etc. Unfortunately, many people screwing their landlords, banks, credit card companies, utility providers etc blow this additional income stream. Ive seen people blow their 5K to 6K tax refund/EIC plus their rent and bill money in a single day.

Many tenants I've evicted have lived in their cars, lived on the streets or lived in shelters although they had months to correct their income and housing situation. Many people are homeless because they're lazy and they don't have the financial discipline to budget, spend, save and invest wisely.

Relocating to an area with a reasonable cost of living and decent employment opportunities is a must.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')any tenants I've evicted have lived in their cars, lived on the streets or lived in shelters although they had months to correct their income and housing situation. Many people are homeless because they're lazy and they don't have the financial discipline to budget, spend, save and invest wisely.

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')any tenants I've evicted have lived in their cars, lived on the streets or lived in shelters although they had months to correct their income and housing situation. Many people are homeless because they're lazy and they don't have the financial discipline to budget, spend, save and invest wisely.

[AlwaysThere]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joeltrout', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ache', '[')img]http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/art.sleeping.cnn.jpg[/img]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ') Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'M')uch of their money paid for heat, hot water, electric, credit card bills, rent-to-own payments, wage garnishments, child support, vehicle loan payments, buy-here-pay-here vehicle payments, vehicle maintenance, repairs & upgrades, insurance, beer, liquor, drugs, cigarettes, lottery tickets, scratch-off tickets, junk food, soda, bottled water, pizzas, restaurant meals, entertainment, digital cable, high speed internet, pay-per-view movies, video games/consoles, computers, big screen televisions, clothes, shoes, sneakers...

[deMolay]

This is sad. Has anyone heard of this emerging trend in other areas. link

[katkinkate]

I've been thinking of buying a van to live in. I could park it on my dad's land for a while and eventually buy some land of my own to live on and camp on it till I can get a house built/moved onto it. But it must be hard to be forced to live like that, when it's so far outside your expectations. I think the term "middle class homeless" is a bit of a misnomer though, maybe even an oxymoron. If you've no income and can't afford a home you are no longer middle class.

[Cid_Yama]

In a car park across the street from luxury mansions, the evening brings a strange sight.

A few cars arrive and take up spaces in different corners. In each car, a woman, perhaps a few pets, bags of possessions and bedding.

Across the street from homes with bedrooms to spare, these are Santa Barbara's car sleepers.

Homeless within the last year, they are a direct consequence of America's housing market collapse.

In this woman-only parking lot, Bonnee, who gives only her first name, wears a smart blue dress and has a business-like demeanour.

A year ago, she was making a healthy living as, ironically, a real estate agent. But when people stopped buying houses, her commission-based income dried up, and, like many clients, she too was unable to pay her mortgage.

Soon she found herself with nowhere to live but her 4x4.

Piles of blankets are in the back of the vehicle. Personal documents are stuffed into seat pockets. Books litter the back seat. A make-up bag and gym membership card (she washes at the gym) are in the front. With her constantly, are photos of her former life.

She can't quite believe her situation.

"My God, America's heart is bleeding," she tells me.

Tears fill her eyes.

"I know it'll get better. But it feels sad. I really fought hard."

This new phenomenon of middle-class homelessness is hard to quantify, but New Beginnings, an organisation that runs the car park sleeping scheme in Santa Barbara, says they accommodate some 55 people in a dozen parking lots.

Outreach worker Nancy Kapp, once homeless herself, says there is a waiting list for car park spaces and she is getting more and more calls each day from people about to lose their homes.

She identifies it as a new breed of homeless emerging in America.

Being poor is like this cancer, and now this cancer is filtering up to the middle-class," she says. "I don't care how strong you are, it's a breakdown of the human psyche when you start to lose everything you have."

"These people have worked their whole lives to have a house and now it's crumbling and it's in ashes and how devastating is that?" she says.

"It's not an American dream, it's an American nightmare."

link

<i>What is this term middle class homeless? If you are living in your car, you are NOT middle class, you are homeless. <b>Time to recognize there are only two classes of people; those that stole the wealth of America and those that got fleeced.</b></i>

[deMolay]

The thing I find sad is the children. Makes me wonder why these people don't sell their cars buy an older RV and head for the SW desert? I would think sleeping in a lot in a major city could be dangerous.