SBS Dateline | The Death of the American Dream

Dateline investigates whether or not the American dream is still alive.

Video journalist Aaron Lewis in Santa Barbara, California, surrounded by some of the most valuable real estate in America, yet his story unfolds in a car park.

Such is the magnitude of the US’s economic crisis that a new breed of homeless person is emerging: middle class Americans who’ve lost their homes and are forced to live in their cars. To keep them safe at night, the New Beginnings Foundation has arranged for security guards to watch over the sleepers at 12 different parking lots.

Aaron meets Craig Miller, whose life coach business dried up as the economy plummeted. Now he, his wife and two children live in a borrowed recreational vehicle.

One real estate broker tells Lewis the phenomenon is the new downside to keeping up with the Jones’s: people buying trophy homes in an economic climate that required no down payment and involved little bank scrutiny.

Yet among those living in the parking lots, Aaron finds surprising optimism. Barbara Harvey has spent months sleeping in her car but has accepted an offer to stay in a friend’s house. The 60-year-old is leaving Santa Barbara, her home for 26 years, to start her life over.

On air: 1st October 2008