I'm going to go straight to the car right there.

Most of my interviews with Tilly Shalee took place in a car.

I'm going to think of it. Most of my interviews with homeless people in general took place in cars.

Cars are good as studios. They're quiet, they don't have an echo.

They are less good as homes. But many, many people in Oakland are using them that way.

Tilly Shalee is pointing out all the people sleeping in cars on just a few blocks in the East

Oakland. Sometimes you really can't tell when a car has a person living in it. But often

there are signs. Blankets covering windows, suitcases, strap, torus.

Them cars right there. This car right here. I know these people right here. I know these

people right here. I know them people right there. All homeless. All homeless in their cars.

Oakland recorded 727 people sleeping in cars in 2019. Although that's widely considered

to be an undercount. Especially because folks in vehicles tend to be less visible than

say people in tents. Tilly Shalee is good at spotting these cars because she knows this

neighborhood. But there's another reason too. Sometimes she and her 11 year old son, Jordan,

also sleep in the car. So you see what's up? Yeah, I put my seat back somewhere. I just

had to record it right here for a minute. We got all the cover. Then I grabbed my feet

double. So my feet won't be cold because in the middle of the night my feet be real cold.

Alicia is in the driver's seat and her son, Jordan is in shotgun. She has a round face

and a wide smile with a little gap between her front teeth. She wears a beanie to keep

her head warm and to cover the short hair she hasn't had the money to get done the way

she likes it with extensions.

Mom. Yeah. What did you think about daddy? We need a house. We need a house. A house

...