Foreclosures Throw Out The Middle Class On To The Streets

July 1st, 2008

Foreclosures are reaching out beyond the lower income bracket to throw out the middle class on to the streets. The middle class has now joined the desultory group of hapless people who live in their cars and mobile units. This is happening right across the country. The situation is worsening with the increase in foreclosures. Professionals are now not living in four bed-roomed sprawls but on four wheels.

Rising to the situation New Beginnings of Santa Barbara has started a Safe Parking Programme trying to provide some sort of refuge for those who have nothing but their cars to huddle under.

The story of Guy Trevor is similar to many others. He worked as an interior designer but the mortgage crisis resulted in his losing his job. Without there being interiors to decorate there could not be any employment for him and others like him. The result was that after selling his furniture and parking his belongings in a storage unit he has no alternative but to live in his car. New Beginnings has arranged for 12-gated parking spaces in Santa Barbara for this new brand of nomads.

The tranquil beaches of Santa Barbara County are today beginning to rage with foreclosure tides rushing in to gobble up houses. So far this year there has been 800 foreclosures with May alone accounting for 150 of these. Each month foreclosure auctions are held in the precincts of Santa Barbara Courthouse. Considering the health of the economy it is not surprising that so many from the middle-class have joined the ranks of the homeless.

Barbara Harvey too lost her job and subsequently her house to foreclosure. Her job as a loan processor was connected with the real estate market. With mortgage companies tightening their strings there are hardly any loans to process. Barbara, now 67, spends the night with her three dogs in her car in a women-only car park run by the agency.

The number of people sleeping in cars has risen sharply causing Los Angeles city officials to clamp down on it. It is illegal to keep a car on the streets at night – here and elsewhere across the country. Fines were slapped and when this did not deter the penalties were increased from $50 to $100.

For the working and lower middle class, the car is the first halt before becoming a full fledged homeless.