*By Samantha Errico*
San Francisco and New York get the ink for being outlandishly expensive, but Los Angeles' housing crisis has become so severe that it threatens the very industry on which the city relies.
According to Katie Kilkenny, an associate editor at The Hollywood Reporter, median rental prices in Los Angeles, Calif., have increased by 32 percent since 2000. Some aspiring starlets and starving artists have even resorted to sleeping in their cars.
Kilkenny told Cheddar Thursday that she wasn't surprised people are "starting to craft their own means of living affordably."
As an industry, Hollywood relies on the rags-to-riches mythos. But in this climate, not all hopefuls can afford to stick it out ー unless they resort to extreme measures.
As of January of 2018, over [9,000 vehicles](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/meet-entertainment-workers-living-cars-housing-crisis-1169781) were being used as homes. And car-dwellers are using every corner of their vehicles ー some even included a small kitchen or a lounging area.
"You can spend as much as a house on these vehicles," Kilkenny said. "In order to save money, people are building it out themselves.
"One of the guys that I spoke with, made sure to tell me that he wants to do it for at least the next five years, in order to save up to actually buy a house," she added.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/working-l-a-actors-turning-their-vehicles-into-homes).
A surge in holiday spending could help combat inflation worries.
Peacock shared the trailer for the second season of the celebrity competition show, 'The Traitors.'
Darden, the parent company of chain restaurants like Olive Garden and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, beat Wall Street estimates in its latest earnings report.
A former Facebook executive pled guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company while she was employed there.
Rising safety concerns over water bead products marketed to kids have prompted major retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart to pull some toys off their shelves.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday it expects inflation to nearly hit the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate in 2024, as overall growth is expected to slow and unemployment is expected to rise into 2025, according to updated economic projections for the next two years.
Intel is out with a new product to challenge other big players in the space like Nvidia and AMD.
Stocks fell after the opening bell Friday but will end on another positive week.
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Americans picked up their spending from October to November as the unofficial holiday season kicked off, underscoring that shoppers still have power to keep buying.
