Handing Back Audacity

Shame is what you carry when you accept the identity someone handed you.
Audacity is what happens when you hand it back.

Today, going to Goodwill with my kids is a weekend errand they turn into a treasure hunt. When I was a kid, it was about finding clothes we could afford and hoping no one saw me there and knew why. Back then, I wore that reality like a necklace of shame.

I thought it was 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔.
But it actually wasn't.
It was 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔.
And those are not the same thing.

That's what I hear when someone talks about affordable housing as "just another program." Or shrugs that waiting months for an approval "isn't that big of a deal."

Every family waiting to get into a home is being asked to sit in an assigned identity a little bit longer. They don't get to hit pause on their lives while the paperwork is sitting on someone's desk.

To the landlords, housing specialists, inspectors, and every partner doing this work: you're not processing just a move-in or an application. 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲.

That's worth creating and bringing more urgency to.
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞.

Housers, let's build systems that reflect that reality.