Hard Times Generation: Living in A Car

This was a heart breaking piece ran last month on 60 minutes.  The piece takes place in Florida but you could go to just about any corner of America and find the same situation.  People have gone from living in hotels to living in vehicles.  As I watched it was remarkable how poised the young Metzger girl was.  "It's not really that much of an embarrassment, it's only life.  You do what you need to do, right?  From the little eight year old, "we deal with it, we deal with it every day when we live in the car."  Talking about having to grow up quickly.

I can't imagine what it must be like living out of a truck but yet this is the America we live in today.  It's clear to get an over riding sense of helplessness from the parents in this video.  Parents also face the fear of having their children taken away if discovered living out of their vehicles.  They face few options when shelters are already full.  What is remarkable is such optimism in some of the children. They have had to learn too quickly what is really important in life.

• More than 16 millions children live in poverty the most since 1962 
• Children poverty is pushing towards 25%, 1 out of 4
• 1/3 of all homeless families live in Florida