PARADISE, Calif. It has been more than three months since Californias deadliest wildfire burned the rural town of Paradise to the ground, but in many ways, it looks as though it happened just yesterday. Miles of houses are gone, trees blackened and bare standing over gray heaps of rubble and ash, the occasional scorched car frame or chimney popping through.

And of the tens of thousands of people who lost their homes last November, many are still desperately searching for a permanent place to live.

Ive never been like this before, Robert Chavez, 37, said of staying in the Torres homeless shelter in Chico, a 20-minute drive south of Paradise. Ive been living on my own since I was 16.

Im just keeping my distance from a lot of people right now. I dont like to be vulnerable, added Chavez, a broad-shouldered, deep-voiced mechanic and father of three boys, ages 3, 7 and 11. My family doesnt even know Im here. I cant have my kids here. I just cant.

After seeing flames engulf the three-bedroom house he rented in Paradise, Chavez fled in a neighbors car, first ending up at an emergency shelter, then at a hotel with his dad, whose home insurance covered it for a month. But after his dad moved to Washington to get away and be near his brother, Chavez was left sleeping in his car and, for the past couple of weeks, the Torres shelter.

He applied for aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency but got denied for whatever reason, he said, and hasnt had the confidence to reapply. He has struggled to find housing in Chico, a college town where rents are much higher than in rural Paradise.

His kids, meanwhile, are staying at their grandparents place in nearby Magalia, squeezed in with more than a dozen family members in a three-bedroom house, since their mom and uncle also lost their homes.

I havent really seen them very much since the fire, he said.

Plagued by Northern Californias affordable-housing crisis, Butte Countys vacancy rate for rentals was low before the fire, about 1 to 2 percent .

Now, after the most destructive fire in the states recorded history killed 85 people and burned nearly 14,000 homes to the ground, the crisis has only deepened, making it feel nearly impossible for many who lost their homes to find an affordable place nearby. Some have left the area or even the state, but for many, like Chavez, Paradise has always been home. They cant imagine leaving.

As of mid-February, there were about 220 FEMA trailers and manufactured housing units being used by Camp fire survivors, an agency spokesperson said. That figure is not nearly enough to meet the needs of the thousands who lost homes.

We dont have enough housing, period, for the people relocated because of the Camp fire, said Chico City Councilwoman Ann Schwab. We dont have enough temporary housing, permanent housing. People are sleeping in their cars, in motorhomes. They are sharing bedrooms with friends and relatives.

It was a bad situation before, she added. Now its overwhelming.

HuffPost spoke to four families whose lives and what they used to call home were upended by the Camp fire. Here are their stories.

She lost her home to a wildfire in 2008, and 10 years later, her home burned again