Housing Crisis
June 6th, 2024
ChatGPT and Adobe Photoshop
I was inspired to create this from one of my earliest memories of when I first moved to NYC, back in 2017. My artist friend was walking me to the train station from a kickback in deep Brooklyn he invited me to when we passed a scene quite similar to the one above; an unhoused person sleeping outside of an empty storefront that appeared to have been vacant for months. His demeanor changed as he cursed under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as my eyes drank in the same injustice that my mind had been conditioned into accepting.
“It just doesn’t make any sense. How can we allow this to happen when we have so much empty space available?”
I shrugged my shoulders, incapable in the moment of coming up with a better answer than “that’s just capitalism.” But frankly, I knew from my own experience that this answer simply wasn’t good enough. Commodities such as affordable housing shouldn’t be merit based in an economy that most often doesn’t appropriately value or reward merit. Being able to live in a place in which you feel safe and secure should be a human right, indiscriminate of one’s socioeconomic status.
Though I’ve had the privilege of never having to actually sleep outside, my sister and I became housing insecure almost immediately after our arrival to the States. We moved from place to place six times within about 2.5 years from when we first arrived on December 24th, 2008. While the dwellings we stayed in were often unwelcoming and unsafe environments, I still am thankful we never had to live on the street. It is something I would never wish upon anyone; a fear I still carry with me to this day, albeit at this point in my life a bit of an irrational one. A fear that is purely a product of our environment, and honestly shouldn’t have ever been allowed to manifest.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from minting this NFT will go towards Community Solutions, a nonprofit working to close the housing gap and ending homelessness. Every subsequent sale will be split 50-50 between the seller and the cause. You must be 18 years or older (or whichever is the legal age in your area) and possess a valid credit card tied to your name, or if purchasing with crypto you automatically attest that you are of legal majority age within your jurisdiction to be making such a transaction.