Elizabeth Burger, 43, opens the fridge at their home in a converted garage in Los Angeles, California December 18, 2011. Elizabeth, and her husband Tracy, 45, lost their apartment in 2009 after both losing their jobs with combined earnings of $100,000 a year. They were forced to sell most of their possessions and live in a motel before moving into Elizabeth's mother's garage with their son Dylan, 8, in March 2011. In a report issued earlier this month, the National Center on Family Homelessness, based in Needham, Massachusetts, said 1.6 million children were living on the streets of the United States last year or in shelters, motels and doubled-up with other families. That marked a 38 percent jump in child homelessness since 2007 and Ellen Bassuk, the center's president, attributes the increase to fallout from the U.S. recession and a surge in the number of extremely poor households headed by women. Picture taken December 18, 2011. TO MATCH FEATURE USA-HOMELESS/ REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES - Tags: SOCIETY)