Looking up

Opening closed eyes and minds

Raising our sights

I was stomping around some open fields, more than a hundred acres of them, with a group of folks last week, taking stock of some land that may become a future site for a collaborative building project.

We are seeing, as spring finally takes hold in the northeast, not only a metaphorical thawing, but also a brightening of spirit and opening up of possibilities. As 2026 has progressed, several opportunities have come into focus, where just months ago there were none.

This is in stark contrast to the darkening of the overall mood of many fellow citizens, as everyday life has become more expensive, increasingly chaotic, and seemingly beyond the average Joe or Jane’s control.

We see this in so many ways: regular gas climbing above $4 per gallon in most states; the price of a typical Easter basket is nearly 40% higher than in 2020, and as the spring real estate selling season starts, housing prices are increasingly beyond the reach of most first time home buyers.

According to a study released last fall by the National Association of Realtors, first-time home buyers accounted for a record low 21% of purchasers in its latest market study. And the age of the typical first-time buyer was 40 years old.

In our neck of the woods, the numbers are even more numbing. Our average-wage workers are practically shut out of the housing market, for rentals and for homes to buy. I have written about the stats before here and here. We are literally shutting family forming residents out of our communities.

It is double-plus ungood. And not getting better. Our political class seems to have decided that serving their constituents’ needs is less rewarding than catering to their corporate donors. Thus, social programs are being eviscerated, even when the evidence shows (as it repeatedly does) that social spending reduces poverty, improves health outcomes and generates a positive economic return. Frustratingly, far too many citizens have given into apathy and given away their agency to those who are doing them actual harm.

Far too many still believe in false and disproven myths that continue to drive economic and social policy. That “poor” or needy is a personal and moral failure. They fail to see that the system actually works against those who fall behind as so many are now doing.

I believe that the struggles of so many of us, all across the nation, are just now beginning to coalesce into action. You saw it in the growing protests and rallies across the country. I see it every day in the work I do. In the form of a growing number of people who are donating time, money and energy to changing the system in meaningful ways in their communities. In the new ideas and collaborations that are springing up; in the officials, community activists and organizations who are working together to find new ways to break the logjam.

“having nothing to struggle
against
they have nothing to struggle
for.”
- Charles Bukowski

One example is the Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation, a collaboration of affordable housing organizations and land trusts who are working together to find ways to enable communities to both build needed housing and protect the environment.

An example of that work in action is below. This seminar attracted scores of municipal planning officials, planners, developers and community looking to find ways to break the status quo.

Collaboration and interaction: it may not yet be making headlines. It is not sexy or click-baity enough to go viral.

But it is real, and taking firm root and spreading. Eyes and minds are opening and creating new possibilities.

🌺

“What stands in the way becomes the way.” - Marcus Aurelius