2022: Flipping the Script… Again

Updating the Affordability vs Ability to Afford Message

I began writing about flipping the script from ‘affordability’ to ‘ability to afford’ on the Neighborhood Economics platform in 2016, inspired by information like this:

And revisited it in 2018, with the core message:

…flipping the script from ‘affordability’ to ‘ability to afford’. At first glance these might seem to share a similar message. However, the former measures value from the outside based on averages and potentials; the latter speaks to changing the model to strengthen the individual’s ability to access more knowledge and options. Investing in people is always the best bet, it is where innovation is born and commitment to community resides. I don’t think it’s too late to rewrite the future of Austin, or any other city, however it is going to take community members to come together around shared values to demand a seat at the table. And, if they are denied, to make their own table and get on with the task of deepening their community roots, planting and growing the trees that will provide shade for generations to come. ~ Flipping the Script: From Affordability to Ability to Afford

What I reported from my own observations and experience pre-pandemic, became all too real for most everyone else in the last 2…