INFRAPEOPLE

 

 

 Infrapeople:  a noun referring to the people in our communities who provide services vital to our individual and collective survival.  Infrapeople are as critical to our communities as our infrastructure - the roads, bridges and utilities - around which we build our daily lives.  We could no more maintain our culture without law enforcement professionals, fire and rescue professionals, nurses and teachers than we could without roads, bridges and utilities.

 

 

    Although housing prices are dropping almost daily, people who provide our most vital services still can’t afford them. City, county, state, education and healthcare budgets are facing dramatic shortfalls. Staffing and overtime cuts already dig deep into our communities’ vital services. Fortunately, our law enforcement professionals, fire and rescue professionals, teachers and nurses remain committed to delivering quality vital services despite dwindling resources, and often dwindling pay. Unfortunately, housing costs are forcing these committed and highly trained people to leave our communities.
   We can’t stand idly by while ‘the fed’ bails out large financial institutions and big real estate investors. We – as individuals and communities – must consolidate every resource, find every empty house, locate every reputable, low interest mortgage source, and anything else it takes to create affordable housing for the people we count on most.