ca-divide-housing

Carmen Preciado has always been able to identify the precise spot along Middlefield Road that marks the end of her world and the beginning of another. “When I go to the other side, it’s just like: ‘Oh, this is a rich people area,'” said Preciado, a 31-year-old single mother and life-long Redwood City resident. “You […]

It was two hours after dusk in Santa Ana, and the temperature had dropped 10 degrees since sundown. A line of men and women bundled against the chill curled past the National Guard Armory’s entrance, around the side of the building and into the parking lot, about 150 in all.  Inside, the layout looked like […]

It's easy for volunteer counters to miss unsheltered people, especially when law enforcement clears camps just before counters arrive. And they're not even trying to count people living doubled up, or renting cheap motel rooms. So why is so much riding on a count so bad? 

Each year, the Fresno County Department of Social Services spends over a million dollars to house families in motels. Motel vouchers, good for two weeks at a time, are like a golden ticket for families with nowhere else to go. For many residents on the verge of homelessness, motels are often their last chance at […]

A surprise eviction notice changed the lives of Juan Vera, his wife Maria and their three children forever. A representative of the apartment complex in Downey, where they had lived for more than 20 years, handed Maria an envelope.  Maria doesn’t understand English, so Camila, her 14-year-old daughter, read it to her.  “Did you see […]

Eufemia Aguilar has lived in her two-bedroom apartment on North Sanborn Road in Salinas for about 10 years. A garlic peeler at Christopher Ranch, she rises at 2:30 a.m. every day, packs her lunch and heads to work, leaving her 20-year-old son and 5-year-old grandson to sleep.  There are lots of problems inside her apartment […]

Just a few years ago, Yolanda Harraway was living in a tent on the streets of Chinatown in Salinas, an agricultural hub struggling with a growing homeless community. Harraway’s slide into homelessness began when her son was taken from her custody by Child Protective Services. She struggled with addiction and had several felonies on her […]

The biggest federal housing program for low-income renters is failing to help many Californians because there aren’t enough landlords who accept Section 8 vouchers for rent. State lawmakers are considering two solutions, a carrot and a stick.

A decades-old program provides those moving in and out of homelessness with a free mailing address—a small but vital service. Not having an address can mean missing out on welfare checks, Social Security payments, veteran's benefits, school communications, affordable housing updates and letters from friends and family.