L.A.'s crisis: High rents, low pay, homelessness rising and $2,000 doesn't buy much

I was walking the dog last week in a South Pasadena park when I glanced at a man and woman having breakfast at a picnic table.

I’d seen them before; this time I said hello.

Margaret and her son Chris told me they live in their car.

“We’re lucky,” said Margaret, who asked that I not use her last...