Affordable Housing Stat #8

Homeowners are more likely to be satisfied with their homes and neighborhoods, and are more likely to volunteer in civic and political activities. (Rohe, Van Zandt, and McCarthy: 2000)

No Longer Sidelined!

Sadly after a freak tennis accident, I was benched for nearly 3 weeks with a bum knee.  I am happy to report that this weekend I was finally feeling back to almost normal and decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head out for a short, easy bike ride.

On Sunday, armed with my Bike PGH map, I decided to check out the south Side Rail Trail (mainly because I am going to avoid as many hills as possible until I am sure my knee is up to taking them on).  It was a short 20 mile ride, but a great one. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the ride.  I feel like there will be a lot of pictures of my bike (still nameless) to prove my existence.  There is a lot of great steel mill history along this route and hopefully on the next outing I will not be so pressed for time and will be able to stop and read more of the signs. 

Things like a train filled with tractors crack me up (yes I am easily amused).  Sadly I had biked by the clear opening by the time the tractors were close enough, but you get the picture.  

 I then got to wait five minutes to cross back over the tracks thanks to yet another train!

100 Days to Go

I have a love hate relationship with YouTube (mainly hate because it can suck you in and before you know it you have wasted an hour of your life).  Last night I did get caught in one such loop, but this time it was a Bike and Build loop.  I came across these two videos and though I would share with you all!

100 Days People!!!

Video #1

Eat. Sleep. Bike. Build.

Citant Vélo de la Semaine #8

Get a bicycle.  You will not regret it if you live.  

~Mark Twain, "Taming the Bicycle"

Sweat Equity: Day 1

Before we can head out not only are we responsible for raising a whole bunch of money, each rider is also required to put in 10 hours of sweat equity.  It is similar to the idea that all Habitat for Humanity homeowners must put in 500 hours before they are given a set of keys.  

Today three Pittsburgh Health Corps Members and I headed out to Homewood to help Rebuilding America with some painting projects.  This organization helps repair and renovate low-income, elderly homeowners, veterans and individuals with physical disabilities.  The Operation Urgent Care program brings in emergency repair services for homeowners.  Volunteers are brought in on the weekends for smaller repairs and home improvement projects. 

Armed with rollers, primer and paint we were ready to go!

Unfortunately the second home owner was not home, so we wrapped up early.  It sounds like they will need some more help in a few weeks so I will be able to finish up my hours then.  Once the weather gets warmer hopefully we can get out on some building sites and partner with Habitat for Humanity here in PGH. 

Bicycle Animation

Check out this WICKED COOL Bicycle Animation video.

Want to try this out on your own?  There are a couple of etsy pages where you can buy one for your own bike.  

Affordable Housing Stat #7

Excessive waiting lists for public housing mean that people must remain in shelters or inadequate housing arrangements longer. In a survey of 24 cities, people remain homeless an average of seven months, and 87% of cities reported that the length of time people are homeless has increased in recent years (U.S. Conference of Mayors, 2005). 

Longer stays in homeless shelters result in less shelter space available for other homeless people, who must find shelter elsewhere or live on the streets. In 2007, it was found that average stay in homeless shelters for households with children was 5.7 months, while this number is only slightly smaller for singles and unaccompanied children at 4.7 months. (The U.S. Conference for Mayors, 2007).