Author: Not So Far from Home: Owning Homelessness in My Own Backyard Peacemaker, block organizer & street barber Minnesota and Colorado. charliequimby.comhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3malm2sbxrs2dThe carceral state has an employment problem. The demand for punishment, confinement, and deportation creates jobs people can’t perform, management can’t support, and inmates can’t benefit from. But lock ‘em up anyway. https://www.denverpost.com/2025/12/22/colorado-division-youth-services-staffing-shortages/?share=wnlhseo2oh2otesl2cer22 Dec 2025 15:59 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3malm2sbxrs2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ma2kh2hoj22vOutside wealth & high-earners skew the market in popular mountain towns. Built using a low-interest loan from the city’s short-term rental tax fund, the complex included 11 deed-restricted units out of 104. Now, all are open to local workers at below-market rents. https://coloradosun.com/2025/12/15/steamboat-springs-billioniare-housing/15 Dec 2025 21:14 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma2kh2hoj22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3m7xpzqn6ss2xCombatting homelessness as a personal or moral failure rather than a systemic one isn't done with facts, figures, papers on structural causes or fundraising awareness campaigns. It requires truthful, ethical storytelling about real human beings that reach wider. https://invisiblepeople.tv/its-not-just-one-anchor-the-machine-behind-anti-homeless-rhetoric/14 Dec 2025 18:16 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7xpzqn6ss2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3m7m7dedumk2aThis is one of the early stories in my new book, Not So Far from Home: Owning Homelessness in My Own Backyard. It's about doing little local things that connect to the big things.10 Dec 2025 04:18 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7m7dedumk2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lyl4ba4bv22iOn a rich day in a poor neighborhood, drone incursions, National Guard troops, and a political assassination could not spoil our time together. https://open.substack.com/pub/smallponds/p/its-cold-outside?r=3umn2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true11 Sep 2025 15:54 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyl4ba4bv22ihttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lvlgssfdcs2dDevelopment is often a waiting game that benefits from local good will. My brother is part of a group that left a large undeveloped tract of land open to hikers, mountain bikers and dog-walkers for decades. These investors welcome community members to a city lot. https://www.startribune.com/the-secret-life-of-a-st-paul-parking-lot/601387524?utm_source=gift04 Aug 2025 14:47 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lvlgssfdcs2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lqt5kxggfk2bI love what I do and who I do it for. But damn, the drugs.05 Jun 2025 01:17 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lqt5kxggfk2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3logzjskuks2vThere's waste to be found in government spending, but look to private contractors for the fraud and abuse. During COVID, the State of Minnesota was hit with fake child meals fraud, and now Medicaid funds they administer are paying for fake housing services. https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/kare-11-investigates-fake-meetings-phantom-services-alleged-as-minnesotas-housing-stabilization-services-program-booms/89-10fd29e5-ee95-41c8-80f1-a49207db3580 https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/kare-11-investigates-fake-meetings-phantom-services-alleged-as-minnesotas-housing-stabilization-services-program-booms/89-10fd29e5-ee95-41c8-80f1-a49207db3580?emci=d89fffd4-c229-f011-8b3d-6045bded8cca&emdi=2f1cc1aa-c529-f011-8b3d-6045bded8cca&ceid=37432205 May 2025 18:43 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3logzjskuks2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lnvaaru6q22sWhy keep obsessing about bad people? We don't need to read their bios or follow their latest antics to know Hegseth, RFK Jr, Noem, Green, Navarro, etc. are not relationship material. If Americans continue tolerating this abuse, it's on us.28 Apr 2025 16:55 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnvaaru6q22shttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lngs4mznt22rSecular activists could have common cause with Pope Francis. Will that still hold?22 Apr 2025 23:05 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lngs4mznt22rhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3llukhbgut22x"For most.. stability is provided not through homeownership itself, but through a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. How can we possibly provide comparable stability to renters? Well, if you think about it, a fixed-rate mortgage is really just a form of rent control." https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/76/deconstructing-housing/02 Apr 2025 23:35 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3llukhbgut22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3llm6xkxev22xMy Small Ponds Substack shares stories of witness and engagement with the lives of unhoused friends and neighbors. https://open.substack.com/pub/smallponds/p/disposing-of-an-estate?r=3umn2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true30 Mar 2025 15:48 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3llm6xkxev22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3llhyijejtc2mAt least she gets to keep the makeover. https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/ap24318613493055.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_653,w_1160,c_fill/f_webp28 Mar 2025 23:41 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3llhyijejtc2mhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lkypfxcogc2chttps://open.substack.com/pub/smallponds/p/being-homeless-is-never-easy?r=3umn2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true22 Mar 2025 21:49 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkypfxcogc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lkymptx37k2wLaunching my free Substack newsletter, Small Ponds. Stories, deeds. and reflections related to homelessness and place.22 Mar 2025 21:01 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkymptx37k2whttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ljy6spo3gs2kTreasury Sec. Bessent doesn’t get addiction or people: “ There’s going to be a natural adjustment as we move away from public spending to private spending. The market and the economy have just become hooked, we’ve become addicted to this government spending, and there’s going to be a detox period.”09 Mar 2025 23:27 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljy6spo3gs2khttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ljxfb2qvd22nActivism connects people. At a local demonstration in support of the National Park Service, I met Kuiper of Toilet Equity. They place composting toilets around the city, serving folks who have no reliable access to restrooms. My family funded a grant to hire unhoused people to clean the toilets. https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/toilet-equity-relieves-locals-without-bathroom-access/article_6a41ff66-f07a-11ef-a3c9-6f438a3f292b.html09 Mar 2025 15:49 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljxfb2qvd22nhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ljnec7goec2kIn my notes on Not So Far From Home, I kept coming across this line. I loved it, but I didn't note an attribution and Google was not helpful. So I didn't use it. I began to suspect they were my words, plucked from something else I'd written. And sure enough, they were from my own novel, Inhabited.05 Mar 2025 16:05 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljnec7goec2khttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ljeef3c56226Trump has no concept of US Western life and public lands. Like Gaza and Ukraine, it's all real estate to him. Maybe you've never heard of the White River Forest either. It's the busiest national forest with the most local economic impact in the country. https://coloradosun.com/2025/02/28/white-river-scott-fitzwilliams-resigns/02 Mar 2025 02:13 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljeef3c56226https://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ljbwiwyr7k2kThank you very much… We want to get that interest rate, is the reply. [contains quote post or other embedded content]01 Mar 2025 02:59 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljbwiwyr7k2khttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3ljbvkwfsq22kNever thank thugs.01 Mar 2025 02:43 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljbvkwfsq22khttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lidtjcyrsc2aThis is not a coup, it’s a hostile takeover. Remove top management and ax divisions, strip out assets, load the target with debt, and sell out before the public realizes a respected brand is worthless. A lot of ex-corporate types will recognize that metaphor.17 Feb 2025 03:46 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lidtjcyrsc2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lhhfltxlvc2lAll over, cities claim their encampment sweeps and "abatement" efforts are accompanied by offers to connect unhoused people with resources. But shelters are full and the resources don't often don't match what people living outside need or want. Say, a dumpster or toilet. https://www.cpr.org/2025/01/31/montrose-methodist-church-addressing-homelessness-receives-citations/05 Feb 2025 20:22 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lhhfltxlvc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lgyg3kkzds2q“While having a shelter option is preferred, it is no longer a prerequisite of abatement.” Abatement=unannounced sweep. “This is not meant to be punitive; this is meant to be a tool in our overall approach to addressing unhoused folks in our community that are camping.” https://kdvr.com/news/politics/colorado-politics-news/aurora-takes-step-toward-removing-homeless-sweep-requirements/30 Jan 2025 21:21 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgyg3kkzds2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lgxu67qd5c2qEncampment Removal Success? "Outreach workers offered housing and services that many of the residents declined, but no one asked [them] why they didn’t want the services." After a few months, cops came and gave them about three hours to clear out. https://peacehousecommunity.org/2024/12/20/someone-thought-this-was-a-good-idea https://peacehousecommunity.org/2024/12/20/someone-thought-this-was-a-good-idea/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIIf5NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZjp4eTjv5Xm8ncdN-Ej8d2eR2vJPZVfg8O6i53xrIWKlx5iPAjAkcl7Qw_aem_MRO_wG-GhvixrDceTzsXzA30 Jan 2025 16:01 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgxu67qd5c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lgrfmczqp22oHas rent stabilization in St. Paul and its shadow in Minneapolis growth? “Most developers will tell you that rent control is a fiscal red flag, and a significant percentage of investors will simply not deal with cities where rent stabilization is a possibility.” https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2025/01/housing-construction-in-minneapolis-and-st-paul-is-tanking-as-new-year-begins/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3KlozLMRfGfMRAs-DbpduvkSxkpqHtu4wLAcIfaDOhsAHyk_Si9NN0jlw_aem_pmImwGh6PkZNq-VLJkZ0Tw28 Jan 2025 02:24 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lgrfmczqp22ohttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3lf4rglkejs2bNo way the Feds will come down on RealPage's AI-driven “market” rent setting tactics with a grifter landlord in the White House. One more way the technopolists will profit off the little guys unless we make this visible wherever the pricing collusion occurs. popular.info?r=3umn2&utm_...07 Jan 2025 04:04 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3lf4rglkejs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/charliequimby.bsky.social/post/3les4qkqe6c2pAmerica's low-income housing cannot function as a system of crisis management, disconnected supports, and police sweeps. https://www.twincities.com/2024/12/31/st-paul-former-lowry-tenants-weigh-emergency-housing/02 Jan 2025 22:28 +0000at://did:plc:i25a6sx4vsedmxvk2ttdd5ra/app.bsky.feed.post/3les4qkqe6c2p