Who Gets to Belong Here?

Every time a community says “no” to affordable housing, it's saying “yes” to homelessness.
I want to sit with that longer than we usually do.

Here's how the no usually happens.
A development gets proposed - say, 100 units, 25 of them affordable.
And suddenly those 25 units become a referendum on the people who might live in them.

𝐍𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝, 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞.

It's traffic. Parking. Noise. Maybe neighborhood character.
𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲.

So, let's ask the question directly.
Who are "they"?

They're the teacher in your kid's classroom who qualifies for that unit.
The EMT who answers your 911 call.
The nurse a hospital keeps losing because the 90-minute commute isn't sustainable. One hospital discussed on my podcast got so tired of the turnover that it built affordable housing for its own nurses.

𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲.
𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲'𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞.

And sometimes "they" is a family like mine was.
When I was a kid, we were homeless. Then a landlord said yes.
One yes.
Because of it, four kids stayed in school, did homework at a table, and beat every statistic that was waiting for us.

That's the real math of a “no.”
You're not voting against a parking lot.
You're deciding the future of the families you have never met.

I go into all of this with Joe Pardavila on The Authority Company podcast. The Audacity to Lead

And it's the argument at the heart of my book, AUDACITY, out October 20th.

Audacity: Go From Wannabe Leader to the Leader Others Wannabe: Goar, Katie: 9798887508481: Amazon.com: Books