Desperate times, desperation housing: The Union
by Tom Durkin
Talk to us. Please.
If you’re homeless, living in your car, or if you’ve found safe ground in illegal, “desperation” housing, we want to interview you on video about your experience.
If you’ve experienced a forced relocation or actual eviction because of Code Compliance, we’d really like to talk with you.
If you’re a landlord or neighbor of people living in alternative housing, your opinion counts too.
Because homelessness and alternative housing are subject to enforcement, we will protect your identity and location.
We’re particularly looking for people living on the San Juan Ridge or in counties neighboring Nevada County, but even if you’re hunkered down in the heart of Grass Valley, we still want to hear your story.
Please call and leave a message at 530-559-3199 or send an email to tomdurkin@sierra-roots.org).
It’s all for a documentary – or series of mini-docs – we’re producing for the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project, which is funded by the Upstate California Creative Corps. Our goal is to humanize the people living on the fringes of a society that seems to be incapable of providing enough housing for its citizens.
Homelessness is not a crime, and neither is finding an affordable place to live – but those of us who cannot afford or find legal housing are often treated as if we are criminals when the real crime is society’s failure to provide enough housing.
Sometimes, I think we treat our stray and abandoned pets better than we do our own kind.
Will and want
At its most fundamental level, real homeless/housing reform requires just two things: political will and public demand. Politicians must be brave enough and the people must want bad enough.
True homeless/housing reform will not happen without mutual sacrifice and hard work, both physically and psychologically. Society must radically change the way it thinks about the people society has left to fend for themselves.
The Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project is working on both political will and public support.
In January, after hours and hours of group and individual interviews with county supervisors and top-level staff, the supervisors directed staff to explore alternative housing ideas proposed or supported by the Project.
Sing about it
We remain engaged with the county to see this process through. And we hope to make inroads to regional city governments as well, because some of the reforms would require changes in state law. We will need multiple cities and counties to join a consortium.
Meanwhile, we are trying to influence public opinion using everything from these opinion essays to T-shirts to music.
Singer-songwriter Juliet Gobert sings her song, “It’s a Silent Night,” about a homeless woman and her dog living in her car at night. Gobert, Bob Woods (left) and Steve Noonan (center) shared their songwriting tips with a dozen people in a workshop at the Wild Eye Pub in Grass Valley last November.
Last fall, we hosted a singer-songwriter workshop at the Wild Eye Pub in Grass Valley with working singer-songwriters Bob Woods and Juliet Gobert. They were joined by veteran singer-songwriter Steve Noonan. A dozen emerging singer-songwriters attended the lively, three-hour workshop, which was geared specifically to what the workshop participants needed and wanted to learn.
The workshop was followed by a singer-songwriter contest that was open to all to write new songs about homelessness/housing. Although the contest closed in January, a variety of factors contributed to a frustrating, more-than-two-month delay in announcing the winners.
The wait is over. The winners will be announced this Saturday at the Sierra Poetry Festival at the Center of the Arts in Grass Valley.
Out of seven good entries, the judges unanimously chose four songs and their writers to be included in a Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project album featuring original songs by Woods and Gobert. The songs will be professionally recorded by Paul Emery Music, and the album will be released sometime before June 30.
The winners will also be included in Project concerts with Woods & Gobert. All contestants will receive their choice of a Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project T-shirt or shopping bag.
Talk about it
Although I’d rather see more action and less talk, I will join other housing advocates for a panel discussion this Sunday afternoon at the Gold Vibe Kombuchary at 12615 Charles Drive in Grass Valley.
From 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., we will speak about “Regenerative Roots – Cultivating Community Resources for Sustainable Housing” with breakout sessions.
The panel is part of “Re/Source at Rebel Market, a Special Event Cultivating Community Resources and HOME,” according to promotional literature. The Rebel Market is “a revolutionary co-creative event & marketplace presented by Catalyst & Co.”
From 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., Re/Source at Rebel Market “delves into the essence of home, inviting you to explore its depths within yourself and your community.”
Tickets to the event are $10 in advance online and $15 at the door. For more information and tickets, go to www.wearerebelmarket.com.
Keeping in the spirit of ensuring everybody has free access to Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project events, you may watch the panel discussion for free at www.PBMTV.org.
It’s all about housing for the people.
Tom Durkin is creative director of the Sierra Roots/No Place to Go Project (SR/NPTGP), which is funded by a grant from the Upstate California Creative Corps, a program of the California Arts Council. He may be contacted at tomdurkin@sierra-roots.org or www.project.sierra-roots.org. © Sierra Roots 2024