Why Aren’t We Just Building Enough Houses for Our People?
When will I become the next victim of the housing crisis?
I’ll never forget Larry’s final Facebook post. I was scrolling and a mutual friend had shared it. It was a video of him sitting in his car late at night, parked somewhere in a park, and speaking candidly into the camera. He didn’t mince words. Larry told us that he was tired. He was tired of life.
“I’m just so tired. I’m so tired of trying. I’m so tired of trying to hold onto the little bit of hope I have left. I don’t have any hope left,” he said. He was exhausted.
He was exhausted with the struggle. Exhausted with the constant search for low-paid work. Exhausted with living poor and out of his car, sleeping in a reclined car seat that we all know is uncomfortable, even when we’re merely napping in it temporarily until we can get to a room and a bed. But Larry had no room to go to.
Occasionally, he’d hustle up enough money working the come-and-go construction jobs he’d get to afford a motel. But these motels, a thriving industry that flourishes by providing rooms to low-income renters who can’t afford the downpayment of a home, often doing more harm than good.
Without a break from constantly paying the high daily or weekly rates, which is sometimes…