SLO: New Cal Poly Soccer Coach and Staff are Welcomed by Boosters

Above (click on photo to enlarge): New Cal Poly Men's Soccer Coach Steve Sampson and me.

We recently attended a "meet and greet" potluck BBQ event for the Cal Poly Men's Soccer Team, and their new coach Steve Sampson and his staff - at the Babcock's home in SLO (we were grateful for the invite!). We took a few photos, and got to meet Steve Sampson, who has had much success and fame in coaching college and professional soccer in the US and abroad. 

Above (click on photo to enlarge):  the Boosters give a new toast to welcome Coach Steve Sampson

Before coming to Cal Poly, I had seen Steve's name over and over again in US soccer news. To have him come here to Cal Poly SLO, and be able to meet him, was both an honor and a pleasure.

Steve even has his own Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Sampson

You can read about how he was named Cal Poly's soccer coach by reading here: http://www.gopoly.com/…/msoc/2014-15/releases/20141204rxne9i

and finally, you can read his Cal Poly soccer bio by going here: http://www.gopoly.com/sports/msoc/coaches/Sampson-Steve

Above (click on photo to enlarge):  Sue, Steve, hostess Cayse

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LOCAL: Hope's Village Letter in the SLO Tribune on 3/31/2015

*****Update 3/31/2015: Becky Jorgeson of Hope's Village wrote a nice "letter to the editor" to the Tribune, which was published today. You can read her letter with the caption of "Many Great Villages" by clicking here. In her letter, she thanks the Tribune for their coverage of her cause, and reiterates the need for a parcel of land in which to plant the first Hope's Village.

Anyways, here is Becky's letter, as the link to the Tribune above does not always work:

Becky Jorgeson, founder of Hope's Village of SLO, was showing off this cabin at Home Depot in San Luis Obispo on Tuesday. She hopes to build villages of these tiny homes around SLO County.

I just want to thank Cynthia Lambert for her great article on Wednesday (“Nonprofit seeks land for a village”), and whoever wrote that wonderful bouquet to us in a recent paper!

Thanks to you, Hope’s Village of SLO is closer than ever to getting 50 more homeless folks off the streets and out of the bushes. We’ll serve those people living on the streets of San Luis Obispo who are ineligible for other services because of a million different reasons. If you know anyone in the world with a tiny plot of rural-type land (3 to 5 acres) outside San Luis Obispo city limits that they’d like a great tax write off on, or someone who would give us a longterm inexpensive lease, please advise.

Once we get the first village up and running, we can duplicate in North County; hence the name (Hope’s Village of Paso Robles, or Hope’s Village of Arroyo Grande, or Hope’s Village of Morro Bay). Time to get more proactive. We can reduce homelessness in our town, in our time!

*****Original Post - 3/28/2015: I am a huge supporter of Hope's Village of SLO. They were recently featured in the Tribune newspaper of San Luis Obispo on March 25, 2015 on page A3. You can read that article in the Tribune by Clicking Here. The reason for my support is that I support all options for affordable housing on the Central Coast - and so should you. Some excerpts from the Tribune article below (in blue):

The Hope's Village nonprofit's goal is to create a self-sustaining community of tiny homes in various parts of San Luis Obispo County, starting in or around San Luis Obispo. The idea is to augment existing services, not compete with them...

A village of 30 small, solar-powered dwellings could house about 50 adults in a drug-and-alcohol free space with a “common house” where residents could cook, shower and wash their clothes. The village would have private security and a council of residents who would meet regularly, Jorgeson said.

What the group needs ... is land ... around San Luis Obispo for about 5 acres on which to cluster the tiny homes, the common house and additional space for a garden and a workshop where residents could start small businesses such as refurbishing furniture.

Hope’s Village has constructed one model home; a 7-by-11-foot cabin that cost about $3,900 to build... In the meantime, the organization’s other project, RVs for Veterans, is still going strong. The organization, which passes on donated recreational vehicles to homeless veterans, just received its 37th donation. 

Article by Cynthia Lambert - (805) 781-7929. 

Above: Interior of Hope's Village Cabin on Wheels.

In addition, I support Hope's Village's other program: RV for Veterans, which receives donated RVs, makes minor repairs to them, and donates them to our homeless vets.

Other forms of affordable housing possibilities (besides Tiny Home Villages such as Hope's Village) include (in no particular order):
• Co-operative housing
• Building Codes in Municipalities which allow Affordable Green Micro-Housing to be built
• Expansion of "granny units" within existing residential
• Legalizing "HomeShare" to allow people to share existing housing
• Converting the sizable portion of unoccupied housing into rental housing
• Tent cities: Empty land with legal tents for the homeless, with basic services on site
• Permanent Tiny Home Villages that do not require them to be on a Trailer
• RV and Modular Home Parks, including Trailer Parks
• Allowing living units to be built on top of retail units on the ground floor
Most or all of the above affordable housing options are not being created in SLO county at this time, to my knowledge. 

The reality is that existing so-called Affordable Housing activities by all levels of government do not produce actually produce affordable housing in volumes that make a dent in the problem. For evidence of that, all you have to do is look around - how much "affordable housing" can you find? Answer: pretty much none. I define Affordable Housing as 30% of total income going to housing and utilities. For a person earning $10 per hour ($18,200 per year), that is about $450 per month.

Note that Affordable Housing is in demand in order to house the unhoused, as well as to allow low income adults to spend a smaller percentage of their total income for housing. Typically, most low income families in SLO pay 50 to 70% of their income towards housing and utilities, leaving little for the rest of life's essentials.

Above: Hope's Village's "Cabin on Wheels", shown at night with festive lights!

You can contact Becky Jorgeson, President of Hope's Village at 805/234-5478 for more information, or email her at beckyrjorgeson@yahoo.com. As with all local non-profits, donations are always needed, especially once Hope's Village procure a site for their Village.

Below is a conversation from Facebook on this article about Hope's Village. I only show the first names of all the folks participating, while leaving my name "Tim Waag" complete.

• Leslie - Thanks Tim Waag. Being on disability shouldn't have put me on the streets. I was scared how people would react to me. El Segundo to this. Weird and trippy ride. 

  March 28 at 3:39pm · Unlike · 1
• 

  Tim Waag Agreed, Leslie. People on disability should not have to live under our overpasses, in our doorways, or in creek beds. We have a massive unhoused population here in SLO (relative to the population at large).

  March 28 at 3:43pm · Like · 2
• Leslie - Its scary.

  March 28 at 3:52pm · Unlike · 1
• 

  Tim Waag Yes, it's scary - especially for women, for whom it is scary and dangerous.

  March 28 at 3:56pm · Like · 1
• Leslie - Too true. People come down to do their dope and walk by and hang out in front of tent hell I have had someone try to get in. Hate it.

  March 28 at 4:07pm · Unlike · 1
• Tracy - Thank you, Tim . I will read and definitely support!

  March 28 at 6:53pm · Unlike · 2
• 

  Tim Waag Thanks Tracy. Note that when Hope's Village acquires a property and develops their "Village", it will only be a drop in the bucket towards creating enough affordable housing for the homeless and the low income. HV envisions a village with 30 small cabi...See More

  March 29 at 7:45am · Like · 3
• 

  Tim Waag On January 26, 2015, I participated in SLO County's Point in Time Survey, and wrote about it here: http://timwaagblog.blogspot.com/.../slo-point-in-time-pit...
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  TimWaagBlog: SLO: Point-In-Time (PIT) Homeless Census 1/26/2015 Report

  Just a regular old Central Coast guy who raised some...

  TIMWAAGBLOG.BLOGSPOT.COM|BY TIM WAAG

  March 29 at 7:48am · Edited · Like · 1 · Remove Preview
• Sally - Tim, is the 30 small cabin limit due to money and resource constraints?

  March 29 at 8:33am · Unlike · 1
• 

  Tim Waag Not that I know of. It's just their plan. Once the first "Village" is established, they hope to create more of them.

  March 29 at 8:41am · Like · 1
• Sally - That's what I was hoping. So it's like a test bed, so to speak. You'll keep us posted on the status of the place I hope.

  March 29 at 8:44am · Unlike · 1
• 

  Tim Waag Yep. Just one model for the solution to affordable housing. One of many. A few more (from my blog post on the topic): Other forms of affordable housing possibilities (besides Tiny Home Villages such as Hope's Village) include (in no particular order):...See More

  March 29 at 8:49am · Like
• Sally - Yeah, I read that in your article. Affordable housing was what got Daniel and I through the tough times in the form of a couple of trailer parks. They were both fantastic. It's sad that they are getting closed down around here. We were able to make a small investment in the trailer on the lot too.

  March 29 at 8:52am · Unlike · 2
• 

  Tim Waag The trend is towards Trailer parks getting closed down around here also - the land is too valuable. Certainly, none being built, even though we have the land to do so.

  March 29 at 11:55am · Like
• Sally - Yes. In the SoCal area here, there was a guy who wanted to close down a mobile home/trailer park but had to provide new housing for the residents before the closure. So what he did to try to skirt that law is he let the trailer park go to pot and soo...See More

  March 29 at 12:07pm · Edited · Like
• Sally - BTW, thanks for the greatly informative blog!

  March 29 at 12:21pm · Like

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