State of CaliforniaCandidate for GovernorNewsom Replacement

Tiny homes are the most affordable home ownership option that emerged from their predecessor the mobile home commonly situated in mobile home parks.  Tiny homes are a solution that is being suppressed by our governmental planners and politicians that favor maximization of tax revenue in oppostion to the desire of simple home ownership by our senior citizens and low/middle income wage earners.

I live in Santa Rosa where the Journey’s End (Seniors) Mobile Home Park was burned down in the devastating 2017 Tubbs Fire that destroyed over 5,600 structures and caused 22 deaths.  Most senior residents probably owned their mobile homes, but will never be permitted to return.  Instead a developer is buying the land for a mega rental housing project that will generate vastly higher property tax revenue than the mobile home park that allowed seniors to own their homes.

Developers have the ability to contribute to the political campaigns of city council members and county supervisors to gain a favorable relationship for profitable post-election benefits.  Low and moderate income people just don’t have the same clout as big contributors of elected politicians.

Two worthy solutions for affordable senior and low/mid income home ownership is in the forms of Tiny and Mobile Homes.  My solution is to establish a state - agency, governing board or elected official to have the power to regulate and permit all Tiny and Mobile Home Parks and individual residences throughout California.  Otherwise, local politicians will continue to focus upon maximizing permit and property tax revenues that only increase the cost of housing and reduce the ability of home ownership by seniors and low/moderate income wage earners.  This isn't a perfect solution, but a good start on an important Human Right.

As a taxi driver I met Lou Fairbrother as he was departing the hospital for a local motel.  He was suffering from flesh eating bacteria that he most likely contracted during his Vietnam War service while using a 2x4 lumber to mix Agent Orange in a 55 gallon barrel.  He was a genuinely a “Good Guy”, so I made the effort to befriend him and provide free transportation in my private vehicle.  He needed assistance in getting to a certain pharmacy that had the right type of colostomy bag needed from his recent surgery and hospital stay.  Our friendship lasted for many months, until he departed for Sacramento to catch up with his former employer.

A few years later a reverse of fortune hit me.  Technically I wasn’t homeless, but I did live illegally in a one car garage for six year; so many would say that I might qualify as have been a homeless.  During that time I assisted “One-Eye Bill”, another Vietnam Viet with medical problems.  He was wearing a haggard leg cast from being hit while legally using a crosswalk by a hurried young driver with poor insurance.  Having known Bill for a long time, I recognized that he was suffering from memory loss (later diagnosed as dementia) and needed help.  What happened in the following months would be worthy of a great documentary.  Lots of trips to the physical therapist, VA, courts, Social Security and grooming activities; at these various venues people often asked if I was a social worker, I’d respond, “No, just a good friend”.  Eventually the courts declared him legally incompetent due to his dementia and that opened the path to a residence facility for the last years of his life.

Today, I’m a social security payee for a homeless man that I met while slinging a burlap sack that grew heavier with recyclable beer bottles as I wandered back on the railroad tracks after having lunch at St. Vincent de Paul’s soup kitchen.  In many ways it’s a hardest job that I’ve ever had as a volunteer.

The “Unhoused” need reasonable day labor opportunities and a cooperative living settings.  Every person has a duty to make a reasonable effort to earn a living and to maintain respect for the dignity and innocence of children as he/she moves about in the public arena.  May I suggest a classic piece of literature, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck that was also made into a two Academy Awards winning movie.  As wisdom contained in Steinbeck’s classic literature fades, a growth in poverty and anarchy emerges.

What the “Unhoused” and struggling human need are “Good Friends” to help them.  Obviously, our society is lacking “Good Friends”; isn’t that the real problem?  Who said, “Ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country”?  How quickly are these famous words ignored by a much loved President from the Democratic Party!