Middle class mom lives in car with her dogs

Mom forced to live in car with dogs
Story Highlights
Mother of three grown children says, "This is my life in this car right now"

Santa Barbara, California, allows homeless to sleep in cars in 12 parking lots

Affluent city has seen a rise in homelessness during California's housing crisis

Advocate for homeless: "It's just amazing the people that are becoming homeless"

By Thelma Gutierrez and Wayne Drash
CNN


SANTA BARBARA, California (CNN) -- Barbara Harvey climbs into the back of her small Honda sport utility vehicle and snuggles with her two golden retrievers, her head nestled on a pillow propped against the driver's seat.

A former loan processor, the 67-year-old mother of three grown children said she never thought she'd spend her golden years sleeping in her car in a parking lot.

"This is my bed, my dogs," she said. "This is my life in this car right now."

Harvey was forced into homelessness earlier this year after being laid off. She said that three-quarters of her income went to paying rent in Santa Barbara, where the median house in the scenic, oceanfront city costs more than $1 million. She lost her condo two months ago and had little savings as backup.

"It went to hell in a handbasket," she said. "I didn't think this would happen to me. It's just something that I don't think that people think is going to happen to them is what it amounts to. It happens very quickly, too."

Harvey now works part time for $8 an hour, and she draws Social Security to help make ends meet. But she still cannot afford an apartment, and so every night she pulls into a gated parking lot to sleep in her car, along with other women who find themselves in a similar predicament. Watch women who live in their cars and to read more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/19/homeless.mom/index.html