The Investigative Reporting Workshop and New America Media profiled those hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis in communities of color.

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LOS ANGELES — For René Lopez, it feels as if the world has collapsed. Or it might be more correct to say that the world has shrunk.

Shortly after losing his job in the jewelry district in downtown Los Angeles, Lopez fell behind on his mortgage payments, and the bank foreclosed on his three-bedroom home in East Los Angeles. He then paid thousands of dollars to alleged experts, who said they could help him recover the property.

He has not heard from them since they took his money.

Sitting at a table in his small apartment, Lopez recalled the day he was evicted from his house in early May.

"The sheriff's deputies arrived at about 10 a.m. and told us we could not stay in the house. They only gave us 15 minutes to get things of value," he said.

The locks on the doors were changed, and the house that he always thought he would leave to his children no longer belonged to him.

On the day of the eviction, he and his daughter, Xochitl, set about finding a new home. They managed to rent a small apartment in Montebello, 10 minutes from their former Westside Drive home.

Now the family has to resign itself to living in a two-bedroom apartment, shared by Lopez and his wife, their children, René and Xochitl, and her husband and two granddaughters, aged 3 and 7. Every morning, they take turns using the only bathroom.

Since they cannot accommodate all the furniture that they had in the house, they rented a storage space at an additional $100 per month.

"Thank God we're together and we were able to get out of this, but yes, we're squished,” said Lopez’ daughter Xochitl.

Her 7-year-old daughter understands what has happened.

"We explained to her, we were deceived and lost the house. That's all we can say to her,” Xochitl said.

She still attends the same school as before — her parents have resisted separating her from her friends — but her 3-year-old sister still asks when they will return to the other house.

The family income is enough to pay the $1,100 rent for the apartment, but it is not easy to come up with the money for living expenses. Lopez's wife cleans houses three or four days a week. His son, Rene, and his son-in-law work in restaurants, but lately their work hours have been reduced.

Rene Sr., at 58, said it is not easy to get back into the labor force, especially in a county with nearly 600,000 unemployed people. And even though he lost his house, he still receives bills in the mail for the second mortgage of the property.

His mother just turned 82, but the hopes of a reunion with her in Oaxaca, México, are impossible until he makes more money.

"How can I tell her I'll go to visit, if I have nothing to take her?" he said.

Translated by Liz Gonzalez