The Eroding House

The Eroding House is an antithetical placemaking project, a decaying landmark that disrupts the sight line of new development.

The real estate industry has pursued constant development for profit under the guise of “density,” yet homelessness increases while new spaces sit vacant. Gentrification displaces 70% of BIPOC communities, as well as seniors and working class families. Displaced people must commute farther to increasingly rare and environmentally dangerous jobs. Concrete increases flash flooding and city temperatures 22° Fahrenheit and green amenities become privatized and privileged. The Eroding House is a call to hold accountable a real estate industry that has become increasingly powerful while failing to house people.

The Eroding House erects the image of that which is blighted and ugly over the image of gentrification. What makes this project worthy is its unworthiness. It is made in the image of that which we wish to revitalize, that which new development finds undesirable lest it should lower property values or scare away young, white professionals.

I’m a second-generation Taiwanese-Chinese American and daughter of working class parents. For two years, I have been one of only two BIPOC business owners with a brick-and-mortar in the building where my business resides. When I think of my own family's experience of displacement and being left out of greater plans, I feel injustice. So there was tenderness in the experience of sewing each piece of muslin canvas to make larger panels and greater wholes. There was justice in using the medium of public art to reclaim a piece of the horizon line.

Density alone will not end the housing crisis and gentrification, and new buildings are an expensive "solution" for social ills. We need better housing options built to address actual human need, not market opportunities and investors' portfolios.