San Diego's sunny identity threatened by homeless crisis

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Christine Wade found a haven in the tent she shared with six children, pitched in an asphalt parking lot.

It was, at least, far better than their previous home in the city, a shelter where rats ate through the family's bags of clothes and chewed on 2-year-old Jaymason's stroller. Roughly 50 of the encampment's 200 residents were children, so Wade's kids had plenty of playmates.

"It's peaceful here," Wade, 31, who is eight months pregnant, said in an October interview. "There's coffee first thing in the morning. We can hang out here in the daytime. I mean what more could you ask for?"

A tent, of course, is not a home. But for these San Diegans, it is a blessing.