Lack of affordable housing is the major cause of our homeless crisis.
Capitalism is the major cause of our lack of affordable housing.
Why? Because there is no profit in affordable housing.
This is not the first time I’m thinking that the system that is causing the problem probably isn’t going to be the solution to the problem.
There may be no profit in low-income and workforce housing, but there would be enormous public benefit in having it.
Maybe we need a system that calculates value in something other than money.
What’s in a Word?
The “workforce” is defined as people who make between 80% and 120% of the area median income (AMI), Housing Director Mike Dent told the Nevada County supervisors during their annual, goals-setting workshop Jan. 18.
AMI is the number where half the people in the county make more than the AMI and half make less.
The U.S. Census Bureau reports the AMI for Nevada County between 2018 and 2022 was $79,395. So, people making $63,516 and $95,274 a year are the workforce.
Then who the hell are we who work for a living but don’t make anywhere $63,516? Are we not members of the actual workforce?
We’ve been called the “working poor.” I’ve used the term myself, but now I’m embarrassed by it. Too many negative connotations. Let’s call ourselves the “low-income workforce.”
Besides, I don’t think of myself as poor. I get by. Although my ex-wife might disagree, I don’t see my reason for being as to make money.
At this point in my life, making a difference in my community is far more important than making a lot of money.
Art of social justice
As I told the Nevada County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, thanks to a grant from the Upstate California Creative Corps, I’ve been able practice social justice advocacy as an art form.
I was speaking in support of Eliza Tudor’s presentation on the economic and social impact of the arts on the quality of life in Nevada County. Tudor is the dynamic executive director of the Nevada County Arts Council and administrator of the Upstate Creative Corps.
The Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project is one of about 80 grantees among creatives and culture bearers in 19 counties from Placer County north to the state lines.
What makes the Project an artistic endeavor is that while we’re carefully cultivating positive relationships with the county supervisors and senior staff, we’re also using multiple forms of art to generate the public support city and county officials will need to effect meaningful homeless and housing reform in the face of NIMBY (not in my back yard) opposition.
public persuasion
You’re reading one of the art forms right now. These news and opinion columns published in The Union newspaper in Grass Valley for the last three years are giving us a voice in the community.
We are especially grateful to YubaNet for giving us access to a broader regional audience, which is part of our Upstate grant requirement.
Laurel Simpson of Grizzly Girl Graphics lovingly designed and screen-printed T-shirts and shopping bags promoting the Project’s belief in “Housing for the people by the people.”
These “walking, talking billboards” will carry our message far beyond the June 30 expiration of our Upstate grant. We want to embed this idea in the community.
We will be announcing the winners of the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project’s singer-songwriter contest at the Sierra Poetry Festival April 13 at the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley.
The winning songwriters will be recorded on a limited-edition CD by Paul Emery Music. Professional singer-songwriters Juliet Gobert and Bob Woods will contribute their own original songs to the CD.
Additionally, Woods, Gobert and Emery will work with the winners to give their songs a professional treatment. Winners who are performance-ready may also appear with Woods, Gobert and friends on stage at a concert tentatively scheduled for May.
In late April, we will launch a community survey to assess how people feel about safe parking lots and alternative housing for all the people who can’t find or afford legal housing.
unscripted
In addition to the accomplishing the mission-critical goal of persuading the supervisors to direct staff to investigate and report the feasibility of changing regulations to legalize safe parking lots and alternative housing that meets minimum health & safety standards.
Another mission-critical objective is the production of a documentary on the people living – and working – in the underground world of homelessness and desperation housing.
People are advising me to have a script. No. That would imply I’m trying to prove something. For this video, I’m letting the story tell itself.
And this is where you – yes, you – might come in.
Do you live in alternative housing, do you rent to people in alt housing, or are you a neighbor of people living in illegal housing?
Are you willing to go on camera and tell us about it? We’re especially interested in interviewing people who do not live in Nevada County. Wherever you are, we will not reveal your location. We can even hide your identity although we prefer people to go on camera.
If your answer is yes, please write me at tomdurkin@sierra-roots.org.
Nevada County has spent tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars on consultants who are telling them what is painfully obvious: Like pretty much everywhere else, there is an unconscionable lack of housing for low-income workforce and AMI-defined workforce people.
We can only afford to spend a few thousand on this documentary because as I alluded in the beginning, the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project is not about money. It’s about value.
Tom Durkin is creative director of the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project and editor of SR/NPTGP Media, which are funded by a grant from the Upstate California Creative Corps and administered by the Nevada County Arts Council. He may be contacted at tomdurkin@sierra-roots.org or www.project.sierra-roots.org. © Sierra Roots 2024