After Julia Cheek lost all of her belongings in the Camp fire, she longed for a safe place to lay her head at night. When she finally received a check from the California utility that had caused the fire, Cheek used it to buy the only home she could afford: a 2010 Nissan Xterra.
Cheek didn’t have insurance and has struggled to secure permanent housing since the fire, remaining among the growing population of unhoused residents in this northern California outpost.