Frankie's morning started before the sun came up, as the steadily increasing volume of his parents' phone alarm, coming from somewhere near the dashboard, jolted the 8-year-old awake. His dad, Candido, and 6-year-old brother, Josephat, had begun to stir in the cramped rear of the minivan, emerging from a tangle of blankets, towels, pillows, and stuffed animals. His mom, Brenda, was in the driver's seat, which was reclined as far back as it could go; his baby sister, Adelene, who was 3, was splayed out awkwardly on the seat beside her. As for Frankie, he was in his usual spot: nestled on the floorboard between the front seats and middle row, his skinny 4-foot frame hidden in a furry green-and-brown sleeping bag meant to look like a grizzly bear.
For almost nine months, the family had been living out of their Toyota Sienna in various fields and parking lots throughout Salinas, the industrial and economic center of Monterey County. In this part of the country, there was nothing especially dramatic or exceptional about their plight, or the circumstances that led them to be without a roof over their heads. Frankie's parents were well aware of the worsening housing crisis that had dragged tens of thousands of Californians into a similar fate. But still, Candido said, it sometimes felt as though they were the only ones out there.
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