In the future, we will look back upon homelessness as inconceivable. We have many steps toward that bright day when having a safe place to sleep is seen as a human right, not a luxury that one must be worthy of attaining by combining privilege with “hard work” or by simply inheriting the means to own the land. Let’s shift our attitude toward homelessness as unacceptable now. No waiting until the future.
This is an imagining of The Land Office a project of the Imaginal Services Bureaux which is in turn a project of Cooperation Humboldt. We are imagining the most just use of property for sale in Humboldt County. This is a work of art. You can read our Principles or just read on…
There are a variety of ways to look at the “problem” of homelessness. But let’s start with this — everybody is entitled to a home to live in. Great. Now that this starting point is established, let’s find our way out of this mess.
For this imagining we are not going too far into the future. Really we are going a little into the past. Eureka had a little temporary village for “the homeless” at this lot in the commercial section near Old Town for awhile and moved it to a lot near the social services building, but here it the difference in The Land Office imagining — the folks who live in the tiny homes actually own them.
Open the gates to a just society…
Ownership of property is weird once people start owning more than what they need. But the “pride of ownership” is known to lift the look and feel (and the curb appeal) of any piece of property. Ownership of the dwellings is essential to the long term success of such a project.
We imagine a small village of homes, not so much the shipping containers that have been used to temporarily provide a transitional space for these people. Of course, the folks who are temporarily housed at the site can help build the tiny homes and practice agency over their own lives, but everybody can get one of these little houses if they need one.
This is how we’ve done it before…
Once a person has a mobile tiny home, they can find a friend that will rent land to park their tiny home. If a person finds a way to make it in this crazy world and no longer needs their tiny home, they can donate it back to the program or sell it back to the program. The value of the tiny home is theirs to do with as they see fit. Ownership is key.
“But what if this person just uses that leg up to buy a house and then rents out the tiny home to some other unfortunate person?” What if they became a capitalist speculator? Well, darn. We’ll need to reevaluate the whole thing… 😉
It will take a variety of approaches, but we must start with getting everyone in a home. Here at The Land Office we prefer a permanent solution which really is about changing a mindset, rather than one of resources. As we like to say, “We live in a time when around the world we have enough wealth for everyone to live with dignity. It’s just a matter of distribution.”
So imagine this plot of land being a small part of the path forward. We can all get there together, helping each other out along the way.
Stylish, yet affordable…
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Here are some links to the background material:
Assessor’s Map for 001-021-006:
http://co.humboldt.ca.us/assessor/maps/001-02.pdf
Zillow:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/20-W-3rd-St-Eureka-CA-95501/2086576700_zpid/
Trulia:
This property listing was removed.
Here are some friends of The Land Office doing the work:
Previously was 2006 Doreen Drive in Honeydew, California.
Next is part of the 1900 Block between Fourth and Fifth Streets in Eureka, California.