Amikas

One third of the thousands of San Diegans who are considered homeless are working people who cannot afford the high cost of San Diego housing. Thousands of others would work if jobs were available, including US military veterans (men and women), seniors, people with disabilities, families with children and an influx of "nouveau poor" – victims of a persistent economic crisis. A situation with such diverse causes requires diverse solutions. So, while good work is being done in our community, new ideas are needed to house the growing numbers of people living on our streets.

Current strategies for addressing this problem are akin to mopping up from an over-flowing bathtub without turning off the faucet, and then dumping the mopped-up water back into the same bathtub! San Diego needs visionary solutions like the Amikas plan (www.amikas.org) that empower people and won’t cycle them through an endless queue of temporary shelters and transitional housing with nowhere to go but back on the streets.

Amikas will provide the structure and means for San Diegans, currently or at-risk of being un-housed, to participate in creating their own self-sufficient, eco-friendly community. Every Amikas neighbor will be employed to the best of their ability, re-building their lives while building and maintaining their neighborhood, growing food, providing the services needed to sustain a healthy, thriving community and sharing that bounty with San Diego

Amikas will serve as a model of eco-friendly, cooperative living while addressing the root of the economic crisis experienced by the working poor, by introducing a local currency to facilitate the exchange of goods and services within the neighborhood and providing a source of funding so taxpayers won’t foot the bill. Instead of being a drain on limited resources, Amikas residents will contribute.

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it to future generations.”

--George Bernard Shaw