There, I said it !!

Since we Virginia residents pay a sales tax on
purchases. I believe it's 5.5 cents per dollar ?
Let us tax our property tax. In a comparitive
manner.

Sales tax on every dollar. The perception of?
Why not add 6 cents on every $100 of that
assessed valuation, present it as a seperate tax?
So lets get AFFORDABLE HOUSING on track
and get these people off the streets. By attending
to the need and adding 6 cents per $100 to the
Real Estate tax .A 27 million per Penny yields
162 million per year. If thats off by a few million
per penny then oops. Minimizing the comparison
and maximizing the positive human benefits.

My plea is that we create a baseline of building
which includes revitalization of Urban locations
which are location efficient to the bottom dwellers
of the Affordable Index. Working the Bottom up.
This base of positive activity can crank out
production even in "down times " because we
know that the cycle has nothing to do with
the volume of Affordable Houses needed by
our experienced study of the growth
patterns.

Scarcity only supports those selling.
A show of strength by Affordabilty
Advocates would clearly help make this
obvious . Building a base of units inspire
a more accurate look at this spiritual malady
hidden within the Affordability syndrome.
Why we have been unable to allow this
human rights issue to fester and persist.

In a 10 year time span we would channel
about 1.5 billion to Affordable Housing. The
ULI Terwiliger Workforce Housing initiative
suggests 65000 workforce units by 2025.

Thats the need for housing units just in fairfax
and is not the total projected need, just the
Workforce affordable segment. 15 years equates
to about 4325 units each year. That first year
might surpass SRO and such for the Homeless.

This wont solve our projected needs without 9 more years
of effort . With 50 % leverage this would buy 2 billion worth
of property. A 2 bedroom at an average of $200,000 is 500
cash so 1000 extends the 100 million with a 30 to 62 million
reserve. 10 x 1000 only yields 10,000. units in 10 years.
Call that a 10 year plan. The Intuitive 10 yr.plan.

Take care of Affordability and Homelessness diminishes
dramaticaly. If we take til 2018 to build these units to end
homelessness we collide with affordability deficits. Solve
two problems with the same efforts. Tweet ,Tweet for
Tweet.

Homeless in Fairfax

Working from the bottom up.

I was pretty busy today. I was invited to the CFUH board retreat
in Reston/FoxMill area which was guided by a facilitator who
kept things on track. That may be old hat for some people but
it was a new experience for me. Their agenda was simply the
agenda being monitored.

Information bullets that would meld into a news release and
an action plan to get to the Fall board . Human information
management wiki in the processing. Content developed in
context, without the confusion afterwards the board had
their private recap meeting.

This was the second time at one of their meetings
and I quess that i am one of them myself now.
As the only Homeless person in attendance ,
as I introduced myself I mentioned that the closest
I come to a church is 12 step meetings.
This rounded out the "representation" .
That was my simple way of acknowledging my
belief in God. Not AA.

I saw a few people I met a few months ago in
the hypothermia program at this same church.
And met another person referred to back then
by a wife. A comment about my car was then
turned around on her about his "crummy watch,"
all in good fun. The more important thing was
my experience is needed.

I explained to a few people that I am not
a Homelessness advocate per se. Homelessness as
seen by me is a function of a lack of needed Affordable
Housing. Solution based versus problem based. The
meeting was percieved by me to be an unfoldment
of understanding as to just what CFUH was and is
becoming. And wanting to meld into the existing
efforts already underway. The number of charities
and non profits can overwhelm a person not knowing
what to expect. It was agreed to find out from these
other how we can help and how they can help in return.
Not wasting effort or energy if at all possible.

The guy with the "crummy" watch spends time in Richmond
working to advocate for the Homeless and Poor. I learned that
the powers that be in Richmond arent funding some basic things
specified in the multi-trillion dollar stimulus plan. If not now?
When? This just didnt make any sense. I cant ask for myself
as easy as I can for people who have or could have a chance
to avoid the wonderful experience I have been blessed with.
Thats a cynical statement to some ,,but my attempt at seeing
it a different way takes work . It doesnt come easy at times
and the absurdity of withholding funding makes zero sense to
me.

So I will study his web site and absorb what I can and just
maybe make a contact with a member of the State Senate
that I have known for quite some time and bumped into at
the Grocery store. This would and will be a stretch for me.
Like I said, I dont ask for help nearly as well as most. The
big guy who can take care of himself is a cover up for being
scared. Depressed helps support the idea of a negative
outcome so I can be okay with inaction covered in a layer
of anxiety . If it was only recently then I would call it
procrastination and I have paid dearly in my life for that
if that is what it is. 35 or 40 years of almost but not quite.

Depression cuts you off at the first opportunity to do so.
Writing this blog is a therapuetic endeavor. If I somehow
help you then great, but I truly know that I do this for
myself. 23 years ago I wrote for 3 weeks solidly turning
out 700 handwritten pages , downloading my brain
onto paper. That in itself lifted a huge chunk of the fog
surrounding my mind. Thats when I began dealing
with suicidal thoughts in a more mature way. I knew
I was in "pain" just not how to relieve that pain.
What I knew about myself was no longer up for
interpretation by others. So what about what I know,
it ruled out what I could not do which is terminate
myself , could not see getting wasted as anything
else but suicide roulette. So no mental masturbation
about drinking or drugging.

Some like to argue differently and be taken seriously.
I enjoyed the meeting today and being taken seriously.
Even if you dont agree, as long as we are alive we
can see things and discuss them and.....get something
done for affordable housing.

Definiens Definiendum

Definitions in Government vary,depends on which agency
you go to. They all get to re-invent the A,B,C's. And all this
time you thought you were confused? I didn't learn this quickly
at all, so off I charged using my best thinking and searching
out information scattered over what feels like the known
universe. Information by itself doesnt mean a thing in little
pieces until you can cement it together, just like bricks dont
build a home by themselves. Putting it together will not make
sure it stays together. Ouch ! The subtle nature of semantics
can get one past you in a heart beat. I used the word "CHRONIC"
in a past post as my poster child for this. You can continue once
you look up the meaning............

Now that you are back let me say that you made
a few assumptions if you didnt get your definition
at http://www.hud.gov/ simply because that is the
only definition that matters if you want their money.
Throw out the window all your logic and determine
what,who,why, where first. Make sure you remember
to retrieve that logic, just dont be so sure at the start
that you know anything.

George Bush said they wanted
to end "CHRONIC HOMELESSNESS"
in 10 years not "HOMELESSNESS" itself.
Yes, 360 communities nationwide have
adopted a 10 year plan to end homelessness
and that includes Fairfax, Virginia.
But a uninformed reporter with no contextual
background can twist things around in a
New York second while being sincere .

That is why I am sure that without an
official dictionary of words and what they
mean to us when we deal with any part of
the government we continue to allow political
double speak which just passes off the payment
to our Grandchildren and great- grandchildren.

The practice used in Bills to explain
the exact nature of the intent and such.
But not everyday or cross borders into
other councils and such. So much can be
said while remaining mute this way. Closing
this road with a functional dictionary would
make finding what you need to find so much
easier and the 2nd cousin of the R word "reliable."

BIG EXAMPLE

AFFORDABLE HOUSING:
defined in such a way that
WE ALL AGREE upon it's
relevance and WHY WE WILL
WORK FOR IT.
From the Bottom up
and the top down
so that we meet in
the middle.

God!!! Wouldn' t that be a a miracle .

Somewhere along the way the symptoms of
unmet Affordable Housing needs veered off
course and created seperate lesser problems.
It may be the biggest thing in my life right now,
but I really dont want more company in my parking lot.
The true reflection of our attitudes towards
Human Rights may be showing in that we allow
this deficit to persist, and please disagree if you
need to. If some push and others pull we
may just get out of this rut,

Homeless in Fairfax

Affordable Housing Ramble

My thoughts started at Affordable Housing and went up north
to a place made cold by the thoughts of money ,scarcity and lack.
Market forces? What does that really say to you? to me ?

Supply and Demand and now to reverse those
words to imply a different relationship. Demand
and supply. As I play with these words it becomes
a bit clearer.If I have the supply then I certainly
dont want a lesser demand.
Reframe this thought........2050 we shall see a
population increase of say 33% . So If I drag my feet
these next 42 years and purposely supply less than
the demand I can certainly have an expectation of
being Rich a few times. So long as the price of my product
can be met while i construct the houses and get them
delivered I can stay ahead of the economy.

There is no reason for me to want to share this knowledge
as Some are aware enough to figure this out and the others
can bumb along for the ride. The economic momentum stops
with a recession. Projects take 36 months to come out of
planning with approvals.

Deep deep pockets can see past that distant horizon.
The ones who can keep plugging along are the first wave
of potential winners. Those with cash see the returns made
on the money. The ones leveraged can topple due to lack of
foundation depth. How fast the economy comes to a stop is
the madness seen recently. Hugely leveraged operations are
better off coming to a stop slowly if they must stop at all under
the guidance of Bankruptcy law.

So I worry how many years it will take for a political force to push
Affordable Housing numbers up high enough that Homelessness
isnt used as a measure of Collateral damage. An Opportunist/
Capitalist has no motivation to engage in a mature effort to
meet housing demands. Zoning laws must act as the behaviour
modifier. Political will must confront the fact that Big Money
will not support these efforts until it see's repercusions and
consequences of it's own making.

I have said it before. This country was founded
on the homeless of Europe shipping over . This means
also that Politicians have kicked this problem around
for centuries.

Affordable must be defined bottom up and
top down so that we can meet in the middle.

Because if you havent noticed ,by creating different
definitions for the same word we are effectively
divided by semantics and that is why we must have
one definition that all can agree on .

From there we can pool our talents
and resources and create the change we seek.