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I Am Applicant: One Family's Seven-Year Odyssey in Building A New Home In Sausalito, California
Set against the California Housing Crisis, "I Am Applicant" is a poignant memoir, the story of a family — a husband, wife, and their two young boys — striving to build a home for themselves in the scenic coastal town of Sausalito, California.
What began as a project meant to last only a few years stretched into seven, plagued by bureaucratic hurdles, small-town politics, neighbor-on-neighbor extortion, ambiguous and subjective design approval criteria, city-imposed "Conditions of Approval," and unanticipated COVID-driven construction costs that all repeatedly threatened the existence of their future residence.
"I Am Applicant" offers an insightful glimpse into — and Kafkaesque journey through — the challenges of constructing a new house in what could be one of the toughest places to build new housing in the country. Order your copy now!
What began as a project meant to last only a few years stretched into seven, plagued by bureaucratic hurdles, small-town politics, neighbor-on-neighbor extortion, ambiguous and subjective design approval criteria, city-imposed "Conditions of Approval," and unanticipated COVID-driven construction costs that all repeatedly threatened the existence of their future residence.
"I Am Applicant" offers an insightful glimpse into — and Kafkaesque journey through — the challenges of constructing a new house in what could be one of the toughest places to build new housing in the country. Order your copy now!
256 pages, Hardcover
Published June 5, 2023
5 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Matt Smith
184 books15 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 5, 2023
I was initially hesitant to read the book as the topic felt mundane (the process of getting approvals for and building a house), but it ended up being a soulful, emotional page turner I couldn't put down.
It's the story of a husband & wife trying to upgrade a dilapidated house in Sausalito, California for their young family to live in, encountering an (almost comically) sad, never-ending barrage of resistance from crazy neighbors, local politicians and kafkaesque commissions and procedures.
It works well as a gripping story, while also providing a front-row seat to the reality of local housing politics in California.
It's the story of a husband & wife trying to upgrade a dilapidated house in Sausalito, California for their young family to live in, encountering an (almost comically) sad, never-ending barrage of resistance from crazy neighbors, local politicians and kafkaesque commissions and procedures.
It works well as a gripping story, while also providing a front-row seat to the reality of local housing politics in California.
Displaying 1 of 1 review