Pockets and People

I am shocked - - shocked, I tell you - - that exactly ten years ago today I wrote about high school graduations and full spectrum housing.

Graduations and Life, Village Green/Town² May 29, 2015

A brief synopsis: not everyone graduating from high school goes on to college. People who don’t go to college deserve to have places to live in our community, too.

Wednesday night there was a protest in support of full-spectrum housing in Columbia. Excellent coverage by Amanda Yeager and Jon Sham can be found here. Why do we need full-spectrum housing? Well, simply put, because we have full-spectrum people. Not everyone goes to college. Not everyone can afford to, and college isn't the right choice for everyone.

Update from the year 2025: people who have gone to college can’t afford to live here now, either.

I’ve been on a kick recently of watching videos on YouTube about a concept called Pocket Neighborhoods.  

Pocket neighborhoods are clustered groups of neighboring houses or apartments gathered around a shared open space — a garden courtyard, a pedestrian street, a series of joined backyards, or a reclaimed alley — all of which have a clear sense of territory and shared stewardship. They can be in urban, suburban or rural areas.

These are settings where nearby neighbors can easily know one another, where empty nesters and single householders with far-flung families can find friendship or a helping hand nearby, and where children can have shirttail aunties and uncles just beyond their front gate.

Pocket Neighborhoods can be designed and built as a single, from-scratch project. Or they can be created by adding ADUs to larger plots of land already in use, for example. I’ve also heard Pocket Neighborhoods described as infill housing, if that helps. Here’s the thing: yes, it’s about density, but it’s density not simply to address the housing shortage. It’s also about a very well-thought out mindset to create spaces for active community and interdependence.

I live in a neighborhood of quadplexes and we have shared mailboxes. Our green space is shared green space but there is no sense of deliberate community space. It is possible to live here and never meet your neighbors. I’m sure some folks are fine with that. If Rouse thought that community mailboxes were enough to build community, well…at least in 2025 they are not.

A lot of you are land use geeks. I am not. I’m guessing that Howard County zoning isn’t conducive to Pocket Neighborhoods, ADU’s, or Tiny Home communities, for that matter. Our discussions about housing seem to circle around the argument that if we build more housing the schools will blow up.

End of discussion. 

I’m so tired of that. I’m not saying that any one kind of housing is The Answer but I would love to see us get more fun and creative about how we address housing needs. 

Before you say, “But you don’t know anything about anything!” in regards to housing I’d like to invite you to share your vision instead. You’ve listened to me. It’s only fair if I hear you out.

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