After She Loses Her Job, Pregnant Mom Moves Into One-Car Garage With Her Toddler Daughter

Feb 02, 2021 by apost team

In 2015, Nicole Jones, a single mother with a second baby on the way, fell on tough times after she lost her job. A San Francisco Bay Area resident, Jones struggled to find affordable housing for her and her children, and was forced to move into a women's home after she could no longer afford to pay rent for her apartment. After months of searching, she finally found a place to live – albeit non-traditional. For $1,000 a month, Jones rented out a 250-square-feet single garage in the suburban area of San Mateo.

Tiny as the space might have been, the resourceful young mother converted the garage into a cozy home. She separated the garage into a central living space, which functioned as a living room, bedroom, and dining room all at once, and a back area, which featured a tiny kitchen and fully equipped bathroom. 

Her small abode featured a flat-screen TV in front of her queen-sized bed – which also doubled as a couch – a small gas fire space, and laminate flooring. Because she was so limited with space, Jones had to be incredibly savvy with organization and storage. “This is pretty much all I could get,” Jones told CNN. While it wasn't glamorous, it was a space she and her 18-month-old daughter could call home.

"There's no playing sports or little soccer games down the hallway, because this is it. What you see is what you get," she half-heartedly joked.

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Jones told reporters that she had previously lived in an apartment in Silicon Valley but could no longer afford it after losing her job. After moving into the garage, she found employment as a bartender to make ends meet. 

Yet even after finding work, she was unable to find housing she could afford, as rent prices in the Bay Area continue to skyrocket. Although she had the garage as shelter, she still described herself as a 'homeless' person. “I didn’t know much about homelessness before,” Jones admitted.

“Honestly, I always thought homeless people were panhandlers or people on the street that were hungry and cold and drug addicts and alcoholics — who didn’t want to do anything for themselves. I work and make decent money when I’m working. I think part of the reason why I became homeless is because finding work and daycare and transportation and everything just combined made it impossible for me to keep a roof over our head.”

Jones also said that while she was excited when she found out she was pregnant, she never thought she would have to go through it on her own. "She's smart, and she's kind, and she's gentle, she's funny, talented in so many ways," she said of her 18-month-old daughter with tears in her eyes. "And now I'm pregnant with my son, and I'm nervous, excited, frightened, sad," she added.

The single mother stresses that while she never thought she would become homeless, she's glad it happened to her. "I have to know that this is my life, this isn't just a story that I tell, this is really happening to me. And I just don't want it to happen again, I don't want it to get worse. I barely just got into this garage. And I'm so happy to have it."

After CNN first broke Jone's story in 2015, she began making headlines with other outlets and was even hailed as the de-facto face of the Bay Area housing crisis. Many sent in messages of support, but others began sending her abuse online, even blaming her for the situation she was in. Three weeks after giving birth to her son, Jace, Jones spoke to KPIX 5 about the aftermath of CNN's initial story. According to the mom-of-two, viewers sent in hate mail and left nasty comments accusing Jones of being 'irresponsible' as she chooses to raise her children in a garage instead of a home. 

"I like it here. For people that don’t like it, count yourselves lucky that you’re not in this garage with me. I think that it’s a home," Jones said.

She then explained that although she made "good money" as a bartender, it still wasn't enough to find a suitable home in the highly-competitive housing market. 

"I had done a lot of searching, probably spent over $750 doing application fees, trying to get into an apartment. Nobody wanted to rent to me, so [the garage] was a last resort, but a good resort," Jones elaborated.

She then continued to say that by living in the garage, she was also helping the homeowners pay off their mortgage. According to Jones, the homeowners were looking to convert their garage to help make ends meet. By telling her story, the young mother hoped to raise awareness about the housing crisis in San Fransisco. 

"I don’t expect a handout. I don’t expect a pity party. I’m proud of my situation. It’s not ideal, but it’s not something I’m ashamed of," she said. 

At the time Jones first came out to tell her story, KPIX 5 stated that the median rent in the Bay Area was a staggering $2,900. Today, RentCafe states that the average has risen to $2,998.

With a reputation for once being the bohemian mecca to artists from around the world, San Fransisco has now become one of the most expensive places to live in the USA. The reason, according to Vox, is its transformation into a hotspot for large tech corporations in the last two decades, which has attracted a high volume of workers from across the globe. As more young talent began to flock to the sunny city and demand became incredibly high, so did the prices of real estate. By 2019, the situation had gotten so out of hand that even tech workers could no longer afford to live close to where they worked. 

Joshua Davis, a 28-year-old software engineer with a yearly income of more than $100,000 per year, told Vox that it was near impossible to find an affordable 1-bedroom apartment to purchase – even with his high income. He considered buying a "fixer-upper," but ultimately found all the places in his price-brackets to be incredibly unsafe or unsanitary. “These were the kinds of places that were affordable,” Davis said. The search had become so impossible, that he ultimately gave up on his dream of ever finding a new home. 

What do you think of Nicole Jones's creative solution to finding an affordable home for herself and her children? Let us know in the comments and make sure you pass this along to your friends and family.