Affordable Housing Presentation for LULAC 8003 on Tuesday, Sept 10 at 6pm

Join us Tomorrow night for a presentation at the LULAC Hall in Silver City, located at 100 W Alice St, in Silver City, NM.

LULAC stands for “The League of United Latin American Citizens.” It was founded in 1929, and is the oldest and most widely respected Hispanic civil rights organization in the United States of America. LULAC was created at a time in our country’s history when Hispanics were denied basic civil and human rights, despite contributions to American society. The founders of LULAC created an organization that empowers its members to create and develop opportunities where they are needed most. Learn more here.

Joseph Kennedy and Holly Noonan will be presenting an overview of the approach that Crooked Forest Institute is taking to our affordable housing crisis. Their approach includes five key educational priorities:

1. Non-toxic living. Our modern homes that are built with materials that outgas, are toxic when they burn and dangerous when they mold, are invisibly affecting the health of our children and our elders. Crooked Forest Institute believes that information on how to keep pollutants out of our air, food and water should be basic lifeskills education.
2. Local Economy. Each of our dollars is like a small vote. The economic impact of purchasing an item from a local store owner reverberates through our community, while purchasing an item from an international franchise sends our dollars away from the community. In addition to supporting our local economy, Crooked Forest Institute believes strongly in highlighting all the kinds of wealth that are more important that just profit. Fairness, Participation, Nature, Purpose and Dignity are all priorities that are protected in a Wellbeing Economy. Learn more here.
3. Adobe Construction. The Hispanic community created community housing solutions a century ago that did not involve debt or toxins or air conditioning. Many of the original working class homes that were built here in Pinos Altos, Chihuahua Hill and Brewer Hill were small adobes, and they are still standing. These types of housing solutions were thinking centuries ahead, to benefit the community in perpetuity. Now, you are lucky if your home lasts 20 years. The housing crisis is sparking a boom of more short-term (OSB) housing solutions, and they are hoping the house lasts only about as long as the mortgage. (But no longer.) Crooked Forest wants to capture the time-tested knowledge of locally built, non-toxic homes before we lose this body of knowledge. We want to build homes made from local, healthy materials, and train a new generation of adobe builders to build in a community-building model.
4. Shared-equity land ownership. One of the keys to providing perpetually affordable housing is the Community Land Trust model of housing. In this structure, a municipality or county (or even state) creates the 501c3 non-profit entity to protect land in perpetuity for the benefit of the community. This Community Land Trust then invites ALL kinds of solutions for the lower-income residents of the community. Tiny houses on wheels? Manufactured homes? Conventionally-built 4 bedroom homes? High-density, co-operative apartment buildings? Transitional housing? And our 400 square foot adobes on shared-infrastructure? All yes. Plus low-water food production and ecological restoration. Shared-equity is the way to go. The community owns and stewards the land together.
5. Ecological Restoration. Crooked Forest Institute is a “Future School” that is creating solutions now to challenges we will face soon. More fire, less water, more pollutants and unstable supply chains are all future challenges that we are solving for now. To create sustainable communities full of healthy, self-reliant people, we need to focus on protecting and invigorating the biodiversity of the soil and all other levels of each of our ecosystems. Systems thinking prevents problems, and Crooked Forest Institute knows how much cheaper it is to prevent problems than to clean them up.

So join the founders of Crooked Forest Institute for a lively, interactive discussion on these topics and more, tomorrow night at the LULAC Hall on Alice Street in Silver City. Bring your stories, both inspiring and challenging, to offer your valuable contribution on how to build a better future for the next generation, and beyond.