Credit crunch forcing US middle classes to live in their cars »
Posted by: engineer 2 months ago146 Comments Report this Story
Homeless people living in cars and motorhomes across the US are being joined by a new breed: the middle class. As mortgage foreclosures continue to rise, growing numbers of middle-class professionals are losing their homes and downsizing from four bedrooms to four wheels.
Read Full Story at guardian.co.uk
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engineer2 months ago
With numbers rising, New Beginnings, a homeless agency in Santa Barbara, California, has launched a safe parking scheme, whose aim is to provide a refuge of sorts for those who have nowhere to go other than their vehicle.
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saintetienne2 months ago
"With this, Bush will veto the foreclosure bill!!!"
You bet, because he aims to protect the vast majority of hard-working, responsible Americans and legitimate, honest businesses from having to pay for the stupid, and/or scheming mistakes made by a small minority, who deserve to take their knocks, not receive a taxpayer-supported safety net.
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libsRfunny2 months ago
"With this, Bush will veto the foreclosure bill!!!"
And he should. You have to be pretty damned gullible to believe people with middle class incomes can't afford apartments.
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Beau78902 months ago
Sounds like Hoovervilles, tent cities where entire families lived during the Great Depression, have been updated in the 21st century to Bushlots--safe parking zones where families can live in their cars after losing their homes.
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texangelwings2 months ago
Beau,
It sure does sound just like Hoovervilles/tent cities. There was a tent city set up in Washington D.C., during the Great Depression. One of the local B and B's is for sale, with 9 rooms that are already rented out to different people, along with a laundry mat that is a cash source for the B and B.
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DropkickaLib2 months ago
Actually, during the Depression, as much as one-third of the labor force was unemployed. Unemployment remains around 5%, which is quite low.
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saintetienne2 months ago
"Sounds like Hoovervilles, tent cities where entire families lived during the Great Depression,"
Admittedly, Herbert Hoover - a Republican - got us into a whole heap of trouble in the early '30's. But read your history. He pushed the country over the brink from 1929-1932 by acting like a DEMOCRAT - enacting stupid laws that regulated businesses and banks, which messing around with the money supply so that investment dried up, stocks fell, and people panicked.
But he was a piker compared to the damage Roosevelt did when he stepped into office in 1933. The depression of '30-33 was in the process of correcting itself - and would have - had FDR not messed things up further. It wouldn't be until after we had entered WWII in '41 that we could truly say we were back on track.
Read all about it:
http://www.mackinac.org/archives/1998/sp1998-01...
It doesn't paint the pretty picture of FDR that was taught us in school....
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slate2 months ago
Take care of children that have no families or has a mother or father that has lost a spouse and needs monetary help. Make adoption easier and cheaper for those that want to help those children.
Take care of those that are mentally or physically unable to care for themselves.
Take care of those that have been in the work force but have fallen onto hard times due to economic downturns. For a short duration that is, help them with better skills class, relocation help.
Help those that take advantage of the free education etc that try and go into the workforce and work up the ladder.
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slate2 months ago
Take care of children that have no families or has a mother or father that has lost a spouse and needs monetary help. Make adoption easier and cheaper for those that want to help those children.
Take care of those that are mentally or physically unable to care for themselves.
Take care of those that have been in the work force but have fallen onto hard times due to economic downturns. For a short duration that is, help them with better skills class, relocation help.
Help those that take advantage of the free education etc that try and go into the workforce and work up the ladder.
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DropkickaLib2 months ago
Even people with substantial incomes have gotten into the habit of living beyond their means. There wouldn't have been a foreclosure crisis if banks hadn't abandoned traditional measures of creditworthiness.
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