Housing hopes and fears

Housing proponents have adopted the avocado as their symbol because there was an article once that said young people can’t afford to buy a house because they waste their money on avocado toast, or other things. But it’s an absurd notion around here that even if one were to eschew the material world that a house is within reach for the average person. It is within reach, but for high-income earners or those who have assistance from elsewhere.

So it should be understandable that those priced out of this market feel bitter. Perhaps they are from here and can’t afford it. Perhaps they came from elsewhere as many have before, became a part of the community and find they can’t stay. It’s frustrating and dispiriting. And to have others who are housed with low property taxes tell them to scrape and save because they did it can be enraging. You are called a slacker or an interloper. You are told to move away if you don’t like it.

You find others like you online.

Let’s say you bought a house for $100,000 on a $20,000 a year salary years ago. You paid the taxes that came with the house. You scraped and saved to make the house nicer and learned how to fix things yourself. You put off haircuts. You clipped coupons, and made other sacrifices. You committed your spare time to your children’s school and volunteered in the community. Perhaps you helped establish an education foundation and helped create the strong schools here that are such a draw. You helped create the community newcomers now seek.

You put your children through college and you don’t spend as much time in the community. You garden for a hobby. But you did your part and you recall the good times, when the Peninsula was quieter, more family friendly, with less traffic and fewer people in too much of a hurry to be as considerate as you remember. You miss the good old days.

And to have young newcomers call you entitled or a NIMBY because you are concerned about too much development or sunlight in your backyard can be enraging. You are called a racist, an elitist, a tax parasite. You are told to move away if you don’t like it.

You find others like you online.

Online is where people lose their sense of decorum. They fight, misinterpret, fight more, then retreat to their silos. It is not where positive change takes place.

This is a time of transition and diminishing resources, which can bring anxiety. How that anxiety manifests is not new — there is conflict. How enlightened societies overcome that conflict is through communication, empathy and understanding. I write of these two groups to illustrate some real scenarios. These examples are just that, examples. Sketches.

Yet, it’s important to see the perspective of everyone. After all, believe it or not, this is a community. And how good communities are built, transition or become stronger is through communication, mutual respect and understanding. I don’t see that enough these days. Instead, I see rancor and fighting and too much emphasis on “winning” as if there are only competing sides like sports teams. This is wrong. There is no definitive right or wrong, and things change rapidly.

Land use, development and housing are a constant source of opinion because it affects us all. It is our built environment, it is our home. However, there is neither one cause nor one solution. It takes a community to solve through cohesive understanding, not brute force. Our hands should be bruised not by fighting but through the shared hard work of building a new community together while respecting each other’s contributions. Hope and fear are different, but can affect us the same. In many ways, the hopes of one equal the fears of another. If we recognize those aspects in ourselves and in others, we are on our way to understanding and progress. This is how good things happen, indeed, it is the only way.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.