Vicki Larson: Affordable housing, a great way to stick it to Putin

Two people I greatly admire, George Takei and Stephen Colbert, came under fire this past week.

Takei — for this Trekkie, forever Mr. Sulu, helmsman of starship USS Enterprise on the original  “Star Trek” TV series — and Colbert, the smart and sassy host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” took to Twitter to say they were all in for accepting higher gasoline prices to send a message to Russian President Putin.

Suck it up, America, they were basically saying (although in truth, the U.S. gets a tiny percentage of our oil from Russia). Whatever suffering we’re feeling at the gas pump is nothing like what Ukrainians are experiencing.

I agree … sorta.

Yes, we must be willing to suffer to help Ukrainians. Still, although many people can afford those higher prices; many cannot.

I have long thought that the cost of gas in America should be more like it has been overseas — expensive. It we had been forced to pay the kind of prices we’re paying now for the past few decades, we’d see a lot fewer Hummers — who actually needs a Hummer? — and gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs on our roads.

Marin was often teased for being the land of hot tubs, peacock feathers and BMWs, aka Basic Marin Wheels. BMWs have for the most part been replaced by Teslas as Marin’s go-to vehicles, after a few pivots to Volvos, Audis and Priuses, but still — many Americans, in Marin and across the country, have bought vehicles with little to no regard to the kind of mileage it gets.

As we wrestle with the ever-increasing effects of a warming planet and the recent dire warning from the United Nations — “Delay means death,” scientists insist because it’s impacting us sooner than they thought it would — it’s beyond time to change that.

And while electric and hybrid cars are gaining favor across the globe, they’re much more popular in Europe and China, where small cars have long been favored, than in the States.

I get it — they’re expensive. I just bought a plug-in hybrid that cost almost as much as a house in some parts of the country. It put a huge dent in my tiny retirement fund, but it will be my last car, I hope. But for the past 11 months, I was without a car and my life wasn’t greatly diminished. In fact, it was greatly improved. I walked or biked all over the county, and took the bus or a rideshare if I had to go far or get someplace fast. I still plan to walk and bike more than drive — it’s such a stress-free way to get around

Granted, I am an ambled person. And there are four grocery stores and two drugstores within a 15-minute walk from my house, and shopping centers that are a 20-minute bike ride away. Not everyone can say the same.

Which is why we need more affordable housing close to our downtowns and transit hubs.

Wait, what — what does one have to do with the other?

Actually, a lot.

The people blasting Takei and Colbert for being elitist point out that they’re both multimillionaires who can easily afford gas prices of $5 a gallon and much more. A lot of people can’t, especially those making minimum wage, which in California was just raised this year to $14 and $15 an hour. You can do the math on how far $14 or $15 will go to fill up a car with gas — not far. Yet if they’re going to keep their jobs, they don’t have much choice unless they move closer to work. And that’s the problem — most people who make $15 a hour can’t afford to rent anywhere close to where they work in Marin.

Even people who make more than minimum wage but are still considered low income, professionals like, ahem, journalists — you can make up to $97,000 a year as a single person and be considered low income in Marin — can’t easily afford to rent close to where they work when rent for a one-bedroom apartment here is more than $2,200 a month. So they have to live far away — sometimes really far. This has contributed to the ridiculous traffic on Marin’s local streets and Highway 101, which everyone constantly complains about and that is going to make an evacuation during a wildfire or earthquake nearly impossible.

Even driving an EV or a hybrid car won’t help with that.

Getting people out of cars will.

Now we’re seeing another downside to having people live far from their workplaces — an economic burden that will exacerbate the already staggering wealth gap between the haves and the have nots. That $1 an hour boost minimum-wage workers just got is practically meaningless now. And, of course, all that driving is speeding us ever closer to a climate apocalypse.

Imagine the difference if more low- to moderate-income people could afford to live closer to their workplace and shopping, maybe even a walkable or bikeable distance. Imagine what that would do for everyone’s quality of life … and for our planet.

Think about that the next time there’s a proposal to build multi-unit affordable housing in your neighborhood. And an unexpected bonus — it’s a great way to stick it to Putin.

Vicki Larson’s So It Goes opinion column runs every other week. Contact her at vlarson@marinij.com and follow her on Twitter at OMG Chronicles