Design Observer :: Join the Discussion http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/ en-us Design Observer Group 2011-10-05T23:40:23-05:00 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0
The consequences are real and their deeper effects are difficult to express or articulate. So thank you for these photos which offer a bridge to the too-often unarticulated. It's surreal and sad, awful even, how disruptive to everyday life and dreams is this housing crisis. The piles of toys, kitchen make overs left half-finished, brown front yards - yes, traces of old life habits but also tangible signs of the limits of the various players in the housing industry - no one is able (or incentivized) to care for these dwellings, neighborhoods, places. It will be a future new owner who will confront these traces of old lives. Surreal and sad.]]> http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/#comments 2011-10-05T23:40:23-05:00 http://origin-marketplace.publicradio.org/standard/display/slideshow.php?ftr_id=78782]]> Eve Troeh http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/#comments 2011-07-27T18:02:34-05:00
]]> Gordon Wagner http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/#comments 2011-07-26T20:43:00-05:00 Julia http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/#comments 2011-07-26T04:38:40-05:00
That a maudlin tone hangs over what is in essence the collapse of a ponzi scheme that mostly benefited both sides of the equation, at the distinct and focused cost to ethical people who honor their contracts, is not surprising in a land where a renter can be evicted with 5 days notice but a "homeowner" can live without costs for a year until the bank finally musters an eviction under a long-delayed foreclosure.

So, yes, the community costs are high, but to conflate this with the evictions of the great depression seems not wholly genuine.

For many, if we are honest, of these evictions are more akin to being asked to leave the casino after a high bender, and these sentimental trinkets simply the empty plastic cups and peanut shells spilled on the cheap logo'd carpet of a something-for-nothing flipper party.

The house collects their fees and the flippers wander off with their memories and posesessions, while the taxpayers and landscape pay the real costs of this too big to fail dream/scheme.



]]> Mr. Downer http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/#comments 2011-07-19T11:30:30-05:00 Michael Stewart http://places.designobserver.com/feature/scenes-from-surrendered-homes/28338/#comments 2011-07-19T11:01:28-05:00