AmeriCorps VISTA 2010-2011: #3

It is coming up on the end of my fourth week at Community Frameworks and fourth week as an AmeriCorps VISTA. As stated in the previous post there has been a lot of settling in and getting to know people in the office. I feel I am getting pretty comfortable with things and have even brought in a few things to make my office seem a bit more homey.

Beyond this I have actually done some work. In the second week the previous VISTA (Liza) and I went out to a neighborhood in Airway Heights, WA (a suburb of Spokane). The neighborhood is made up of twelve different mobile home parks and roughly two hundred total single wide and modular homes. Liza and I spent the day walking around the parks and completing a conditions assessment of each home as well as the condition of each mobile home park.

Before I go into what we found, I should mention that in no way do I have a problem with mobile and modular homes. I spent my childhood living in three different mobile homes and even the first year after I left home. I know what it is like to live in a single-wide trailer, and I also know the stigma that they carry. Many consider them to be substandard living, but if you take care of a mobile home, just as you would a stick-built home, then they are no less of a home.

The mobile homes that Liza and I encountered represent and magnify the stigma that is applied to most mobile homes. A majority of the homes have warped siding as well as broken windows and substandard roofing. A majority of the homes are forty years or older which puts them into a designation by HUD that labels the mobile homes substandard living due to heating and cooling inefficiency as well as unsafe for moving (any mobile home manufactured prior to 1976 falls into this designation). Many of these homes in Airway Heights have not been taken care of and have years and years of deferred maintenance and are in various states of dilapidation. Four homes were burned and their empty carcasses sit rotting allowing for a place for vermin to gather and to further the blight that plagues the neighborhood.

A large portion of the homes are owned by landlords and are rented to low-income families. They collect their rents and do nothing to maintain the homes or lots. A few of the landlords don't even live in Spokane or even the state of Washington. Further more, the families seem to have fallen victim to the stigma and overlook such discrepencies in maintenance. Upon speaking with a few of the community members they choose to live in such substandard homes because they don't feel they can afford or deserve any better. A lot of the residents have lived in the parks for over twenty years, and many of the younger families are second and third generation residents. I am not here to judge anyone, but it astonishes me.

Needless to say we received a lot of questioning looks and a lot of "Whatcha doin'?". Many of the residents seemed very leery of people looking at their homes and taking photos (rightfully so). A few of the residents spoke out against their neighbors and the illegal activities that occur in the neighborhood while also speaking of the good memories they had living in the area. We've all seen these types of places and neighborhoods, and for the most part we steer clear. Liza and I, along with our supervisors, felt the neighborhood represented some of the worst housing conditions in Spokane County. We also consider the landlords as more slumlords. It is our goal at Community Frameworks to change this.

Besides the overall condition of the neighborhood and the homes the other reason we were out there is Fairchild Air Force Base. A prime employer for the residents of Airway Heights, Fairchild represents a major priority to the governing officials of the city, so the possible closure of the base would devastate the city as well as the region. How does the mobile home parks affect this? Well, the mobile home parks are in a secondary crash zone for the base. You can build in the secondary crash zone, but it is not recommended. So, the city is afraid that if the Department of Defense decides to close more bases that they will use these mobile home parks as a downside for the base.

This is going to be a long process, and it won't be easy. It is our goal as a developer to get the residents of the parks to move and get them into healthier low-income housing. We don't want to force them out. We want to educate them and let them know that they have options. We know there will be backlash and outcry, but with help from Habitat for Humanity and the City of Airway Heights we feel we will be able to convince the residents that it will be best for them and their families.

As I continue working on this, I will provide you with updates. I understand that these posts can get very lengthy, and I apologize. There is a lot of information being gathered, and I feel that it is important to present it to you, so you get a better understanding of what I am doing for $800 a month and health care benefits, as well as what it means to be an AmeriCorps VISTA.