In 'America's Finest City,' homelessness spreads disease

SAN DIEGO (AP) — For Christine Wade, the tent she shared with six children, pitched in an asphalt parking lot, was far better than their previous home — a shelter where rats ate through the family's bags of clothes.

"It's peaceful here," Wade, 31 and eight months pregnant, said in an October interview at the campground.

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

Like other major cities all along the West Coast, San Diego is struggling with a homeless crisis. In a place that bills itself as "America's Finest City," spiraling real estate values have contributed to spiraling homelessness, leaving more than 3,200 people living on the streets or in their cars.