My interest in affordable housing dates from my MFA in sculpture which morphed into a career in the building industry when I moved to New Mexico in 1980. I worked as a field carpenter, welder, a scenic on films and opera and an exhibit designer and ended my career selling door hardware and plumbing to high-end contractors and clients. My grandmother ran a hardware store in Brooklyn, so my interest in how things are built dates from early childhood. In 1982 we purchased a 1940's property in La Puebla in dire need of rehabilitation for what is now a ridiculously miniscule price. We're still applying our sweat equity to the property in the tradition of many northern New Mexicans before us, as we've watched many of them succumb to the seduction of the cash economy and purchase mobile homes. In 1999 I was a citizen volunteer on Santa Fe County's Sustainable Land Use Code update and learned about Transferable Development Rights. That proved prescient when we were gifted 19 acres of irrigated farmland adjacent to our 2-acre property. We have been pursuing ways to preserve and monetize our land without subdividing it so that it can remain in agriculture. Meanwhile the development pressures of Traditional Community zoning allows 3/4 acre housing sites on formerly irrigated land. Along the way, I have steeped myself in informal land use and affordable housing studies. The struggles of our homeless neighbors in Espanola spotlight the need for creative, humane affordable housing. We should not let our community be a haven for the wealthy while excluding working class folks from the basic right of decent housing. I think there are creative, just and affordable methodologies within reach and I would be honored to explore paths forward with other concerned citizens.