In case anyone still hasn’t seen this story, I direct your attention to Writeahouse, a charity that’s buying up abandoned, run-down houses, providing work to fix them up to 80% restored, then giving them to writers, who get the house free if they live there, do the last 20% of the restoration, and will get to keep the house if they stay long enough.

Given the numerous and serious problems facing Detroit, including a huge PR problem of ‘who would want to live in Detroit?’ offering artists a chance at super-affordable housing and a ready-made community is very intriguing.

If they did something similar in Baltimore, I might be up for it. Right now, we can’t leave where we are, due to my fiance’s work. And living anywhere but New England/East Coast is a no-go for my Angry Robot work. I have to stay within striking distance of New York City.

More info on Writahouse here:

http://boingboing.net/2013/12/18/free-houses-for-writers.html