March 3rd
Today, our Affordable Housing Immersion 2020 group went to Tyler Court in Tacoma, WA to build houses with the partnership of Habitat for Humanity. Half of the group worked on assembling a house and with the time we had, they managed to put up a wall. For the other half, we first painted trims of assembled homes and then worked on the interior of a developing home by adding tiles to the bathroom wall, and some of us trimmed the tiles with a diamond and water saw. I was with the half that did not work on the house, but I hope to help with constructing the house the next time we are on site (Thursday, March 05, 2020). Weather wise, it was extremely bipolar; it was warm and sunny, then became cloudy, back to being sunny, and then sprinkled a bit (causing us to put on pause on painting) and then sunny once more. What can I say, that is the PNW weather! But majority of the time, it was extremely windy and chilly. Despite the unkind weather, I enjoyed working on a construction site and gain the experience. The purpose of collaborating with Habitat for Humanity is not to just build houses for the people who need homes, but to gain the abstract and concrete view of this social issue, get hands on experiences, and grasp a better understanding about affordable housing. For me personally, I got two things from today. The first getting to experience what it is like being a constructor. From an outsider perspective, I know that construction is a hard labor work, and from today’s experience, I respect people in this industry. The second thing I got was the sense of community and teamwork. By having various people come together to advocate, work together, and make a change, a lot can be done and can help decrease the problem to this social issue.
After Tyler Court, we had dinner with the Tacoma Catholic Worker at Guadalupe House of Hospitality. This organization serves homeless and hungry in Tacoma, supported by volunteers, and they host dinner every Tuesday. The food comes from donations as well as time and money from the community members. When we arrived, I helped the leader of the organization, Elizabeth, in the kitchen and was fortunate to have a friendly and informative conversation at the same time. What I learned was that she has lived in Tacoma for years and was a baker before being part of this organization. I asked: what justice issues does this organization look at and whether politicians are doing their job regarding to this issue. What I got was that this organization looks at homelessness issues and advocate equity for all. For my other question, she brings up that politicians are not doing their job since instead of listening to people and their needs, they do what they think is best for the people. Hearing this, it was quite upsetting since I believe that for social change to happen, politicians must make change based on people’s needs since first off, the responsibility of a leader is to be the voice for the people and also, the people the ones who have the experience and the platform of social issues. Moreover, Elizabeth and I discussed how affordable housing and homeless is a difficult issue since there are two sides to it and no median. In other words, yes, it is upsetting to see people being houseless and coerced to move their tents, and have to compete for a space in homeless shelter, but yet, considering tourists coming, we want them to feel safe and feel welcome in which, that can be challenging when there is a lot of homeless people on the streets. To me, this issue is extremely complex since of course, there are people who needs help and works hard, but still cannot afford living under a roof. Yet, there are also others who likes to take things for granted and have everything come free to them.
When it was about time to eat, I left the kitchen and sat on the outskirt of the dinner table since there were no more seats. What I noticed was that this organization was extremely welcoming and I adore their sense of community. Unfortunately, since I was involved in the kitchen prior to dinner and did not have a seat at the table, I was not able to converse to the older people there. However, there was this one worker who I talked to named Grace and we talked about why our immersion group is in Tacoma and where we are from. From our conversation, the thing that stood out to me was how homelessness is an under looked issue in Tacoma compared to Seattle and Portland. This caused me to wonder, what other smaller and not well-known cities have issues with affordable housing?
Overall, today was an eye-opening and an incredible experience. I would not trade it anything else in the world. I am looking forward to continuing working on the site and grasp a better understanding on the issue of affordable housing. Furthermore, I hope to get answers to my questions such as why people cannot afford homes, what are some best solutions to reduce this problem, and how can people’s voices be heard? 
Vy-An Nguyen