Kim Coulon lived in a cute little apartment in the town of Paradise, California, with her 16-year-old son. Then on the morning of Nov. 8, 2018, everything changed. In the span of a few hours, the deadly Camp fire blazed across the mountain ridge and burned nearly the whole town to the ground.

It was like a little treehouse to me, Coulon said of her rental. It disintegrated.

Now a year later, shes living with her son and her boyfriend in a 24-foot RV in a co-workers driveway. Theyve been stuck there in Durham, a town not far from Paradise, since July. Before that, they were in another co-workers driveway in nearby Chico.

I feel like Im in a coffin, Coulon said of the RV last month. She didnt have renters insurance so she doesnt have enough to afford another place in the area. Butte County already had a low housing vacancy rate around 1%-2% and that was before more than 18,000 homes burned.

I can only stay here through November and then what am I gonna do? Coulon asked. Am I gonna be parking this [RV] as a homeless person?

The Camp fire, which killed 85 people in Northern California, torched nearly 90% of the rural community of Paradise. For months afterward, survivors were sleeping on friends couches, doubled up in homes, squeezed into trailers or other vehicles. Some were in homeless shelters .

Today, the town itself shows signs of a steady recovery. The cleanup of miles of ashes and charred debris is largely complete. Over 200 building permits have been issued, according to Mayor Jody Jones. Even so, only an estimated 5,000 people are living there now, down from a population of over 26,000 before the fire. Many are housed in trailers on their property, waiting to rebuild.

As for those who didnt have insurance or were renting and dont have property to rebuild on, many are scattered around the region, still struggling to find a permanent home a year later.

I feel like the people that had a support system, insurance, and were living relatively comfortably are starting to resolve some issues, said Siana Sonoquie, who runs a winter shelter for homeless residents in Chico. Its the people that didnt have that, who were living in substandard housing or didnt have housing insurance, who still dont have good options.

You see the stark difference between the haves and the have nots, she added. Its who gets left behind.

Paradise was a lower-income community, with a median household income of $49,000 (well below the national median), and a quarter of its residents were over 65. Like many regions of California, Butte County had a serious homelessness problem even before the fire. As of March of this year, the number of homeless residents had risen by 16% compared to 2017.

Coulon said rental prices in the area are too high now for what she makes as an education assistant at a high school working with students with special needs. Shes been on leave since September for depression and anxiety, which she attributes to the fire and its aftermath.

Ill never be able to rent in this county again, she said. I had a life. I created this little life. ... It was a humble little life. And I cant get it back. ... I cant get the same feeling living in this RV.

I feel like Im gonna be living in this RV for the rest of my life, she said. It took everything.