U.S. News: Hope for California’s Housing Crisis?

Ellen Tara James-Penney is passionate about her job. An adjunct English professor at San Jose State University since 2014, she enjoys challenging her students to think outside the box. They have dubbed her “Professor E” and enjoy her style of teaching. But when people learn that James-Penney is homeless, living in her Volvo with her husband Jim and two dogs, they are stunned. Her husband cannot work due to a severe back injury. They shower at the Jewish Community Center in San Jose and because of the neighborhood watches that were enforced last June, they sleep outside Grace Baptist Church, with James-Penney in the car and her husband in a tent. With the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment going for $1,800 in the city, they simply can’t afford it.