You don't win them all.

I've been winning most of them in Nelson. I have a good school program, a growing social network, a drag gig, and someone who wants to sell my art.

But I don't have a place to live

I look at how renting and owning plays out, not just for me, but in intentional communities, and seeing how it shapes the city. It's giving me ideas.

An old co-worker friend of mine belongs to a housing cooperative. It's a bit unusual in that it's not apartment-based. Rather, you rent a house from the co-operative, and when they had enough money, they buy another house. Repeat. This seems like a good idea. If you're going to pay into a place, shouldn't it be for something you own rather than something you rent?

This gave me the idea of buying a camper, but it turns out that the cops in Nelson's attitude is get to a campground, hippie. Never mind that there is only one campground within walking distance of in town, it ain't cheap, and it's not open past October. When I costed out insurance, gas and utilities, it didn't look like such a good deal.

I've found one community that seems to have a handle on the renters/owners problem. It was founded by queers.