Last Night In Jax-- Gay Bar Conversations On Affordable Housing

My last night in Jax I got to hang out with some of my brother-in-law's lesbian friends. Apparently, as one might guess, Jacksonville is not exactly the most happening place to be gay, but there is one gay bar-- called "The Pearl"-- and that is where my brother-in-law (B-I-L) chose to spend his last night in Jax so we all met up there later in the evening.

I am really impressed with my brother-in-law's friends. In one year, he managed to form a community (second family?) of very passionate, interesting young people. One of his friends was telling me that my brother-in-law was the catalyst that brought them all together. Way to go, B-I-L!

There were geologists, ex-infantry turned funeral parlor employees (now that makes for some good stories), sustainable farming activists, non-profit employees working on issues ranging from low-income housing to rape crisis counseling/teaching assertiveness training. Many of his friends are much more politically active and well-informed than me, which kind of puts me to shame as I consider myself pretty knowledgeable and liberal.

Another thing I noticed about his group of friends is that there was a mix of straight, gay, lesbian and bi people. Sexual orientation is not what defined membership in this club (to borrow Ani's words). All of his friends came to hang out at The Pearl that last night, straight and gay, even though it was a gay bar. I thought this was really cool. I'm not used to such a mixed crowd-- I'm used to people separating more along lines of sexual orientation (and race). However, I'd like to live a world where one's sexual orientation (or skin color) did not define one's friends, or where people got together. His group of friends was like a post-queer crowd. Or almost. Labels still existed, but didn't have the divisive effect they usually do. I wish I could find more crowds like this.

I listened to a very passionate discussion about providing affordable and sustainable housing in the Jacksonville community and elsewhere. The two conversants spoke with worship-like admiration about Community Land Trusts in Vermont and the effort to establish them in Florida. Frustratingly, much of their conversation was like alphabet soup for me. I finally had to ask what "CDCs" and "LISC" stood for-- Community Development Corporations and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (a Jax area non-profit that funds many other community building groups, at least as far as I can tell).

I inquired about what makes Community Land Trusts so amazing, and got a rudimentary explanation. As far as I understand, the land the house is on is owned by the CLT, and so the value of the house is separate from the land. As a result, if a particular house is subsidized and changes owners, the subsidy continues for the next owner seamlessly, whereas otherwise the new owner would have to start from scratch and obtain a new subsidy (why this is the case I don't get). There's more to it than that, but the rest went over my head (I think perhaps separating the ownership of the land and the house may make the house cheaper or increase in value more quickly but I wasn't clear on this).

It was interesting to hear about the challenges of affordable housing and community building. Apparently one of the problems is that the subsidies currently being offered in the Jax area only help people who are already solidly middle-class since the housing being subsidized is too expensive for lower class people to afford (that includes the non-profit employees engaged in the conversation, who consider themselves "respectabley poor.")

Another challenge is that pouring money and work into a neighborhood often results in gentrification, frequently turning a black neighborhood into a white neighborhood. This destroys the culture and diversity of a city as well as simply shifting the problem of low-income housing and undesirable neighborhoods elsewhere. The people I was listening to clearly envisioned housing that would meet everyone's needs, including-- to my amazement-- homeless people. (Having seen so many homeless people that were clearly mentally disturbed in DC and Baltimore I began to realize the question of homelessness in urban areas is a much thornier issue than I previously thought). To eschew gentrification as a non-holistic approach that does not accomplish the goal of ensuring affordable, safe housing for all might seem radical to some people but makes perfect sense to me after listening to the conversation.

It was such a pleasure to listen to a discussion where the participants cared so much about the issues. Their intensity and commitment to bringing about change really inspired me. I wish there were more young people like that in my life. Yay for socially conscious, activist young people. I also realize that housing is an issue I really should become better educated about because it directly affects me in CA, where buying property is completely out of the question and even renting a studio is so ridiculously expensive that I have avoided doing so. From now on, when I vote and look at the platform of politicians in my community I will examine more closely their positions on housing. I don't want to be ignorant or apathetic.