“Well, it wouldn’t be mobile homes: they would look more like ‘normal’ houses except being very small” “So like a homeless village?” “Yes, but done more nicely. Basically trying to be as nice as a suburban village except at much higher density. The homeless would own their small homes. There would even be a HOA [Home Owners Association] to apply rules for keeping things looking good” “Co-governing homeless villages have not been doing well” “This isn’t co-governing, just normal home ownership. Except the lots are very small. That is also how it is different from mobile home parks where you are renting your lot vs. owning it.” “OK. So I buy 40 acres in Fremont for a billion dollars; develop it for a few tens-of-millions to have water, sanitation, and power for the area; you figure out how to get four thousand people to build (or move) tiny homes onto it and we everyone is happy?” “Well… at least most of those four thousand would be quite ecstatic” “And I get the warm fuzzies for giving away a billion dollars?”
❦ The rest of the conversation — did not go well. My actual proposal was to do a proof of concept (POC) on a 4-acre plot, ideally in East Palo Alto or Redwood City, but Fremont would be fine also. Fremont just meant I had to cross bridges a lot, and ‘modern’ vampires don’t have problems with that or running water in general. If I did, I could always swing around the San Jose base of the peninsula. - 59 -
