In the anarchist and punk scenes that I have been involved with for the past fifteen years, there has always been a problem with transience. At any given time, I can probably count more ex-anarchists or ex-punks than those who are actively involved in either scene. In some ways, this is to be excepted—both unfortunately put a lot of focus on youth and youthfulness and as people grow older, it is hard to fit into both scenes. For some, the transition means selling out everything that you believed in—for example trading your punk records for the latest Sigur Ros CD or trading your anarchist politic beliefs for a vote for Barack Obama—while for others it means realizing that you just don’t feel like you fit in anymore.

While transience in both the anarchist and punk scenes is a complex phenomenon, I think it generally has to do with the scenes failing to offer people support. Both tend to place a premium on not changing and adherence to a strict set of guidelines—what records to listen to, how to dress, the particulars of a 100+ year old political ideology, etc—and they often tend not to provide much support for participants. In many cases, the slightest change is met with allegations of “selling out.” Similarly, try dealing with a sexual assault, trying to get sober, or confronting unequal power dynamics in the anarchist or punk scenes and you will quickly find how reactionary and unsupportive both scenes can be.

Moreover, I think the anarchist and punk scenes put a premium on youth by having an unrealistic approach to housing. The anarchist and punk approach to housing is pretty similar—either live in a filthy house with a ton of housemates (inevitably arguing over the fact that one or more housemates have an aversion to washing dishes or complaining about the permanent houseguests who claim to be “traveling” yet have been parked on your couch for longer than it takes to catch out to Chicago) or squat. Squatting would be great if this was Europe, but it’s West Michigan, and squatting is pretty tough. Sure, you can crack open an empty house and sleep in it for a few days or weeks, but it’s not really a permanent solution. Across the United States, there are a few squats, but for the most part, it’s a tough route to go. After awhile, both squatting and punk houses lose their appeal—both can be pretty draining over time. Moreover, they both reinforce a lack of commitment to the area, which further contributes to transience.

In part because of thinking about transience in both scenes, my partner and I bought a house a couple of months ago. It seemed pretty “grown up”—we had to put on nice clothes and drive around in a car with a realtor—but after about a month of looking, we purchased an affordable house in good condition. Neither of us really ever thought we would be able to purchase a home, it always felt like we would be stuck in paying rent to a landlord each month. Now, we no longer pay rent, the monthly payments go to sustain something permanent—making it a commitment to the area that is sadly lacking amongst many anarchists and punks. We are making plans to tear up our yard for a garden (and possibly even our driveway), planning to paint a mural on the side of the garage, and doing all sorts of things that we couldn’t do when we were renting. Moreover, although I always knew I would stay in the area, owning a home has changed my political outlook a lot—now I’m looking at long-term strategies rather than just reacting to the next war or politician visiting town.

Surprisingly, it really wasn’t that hard to purchase a house. I haven’t worked for nearly three years and my partner has a part-time job, yet we were able to get a loan. You do need good credit, but bad credit can be fixed if you are considering buying a house. Moreover, there are a number of resources in town that can help you in the process: ICCF (they offer a very helpful introduction to homeownership class that covers everything you need to know and they also can help you get your finances in order), Home Repair Services (once you own a home they have a tool library, a discount hardware store, and a discount repair service aimed at helping low income homeowners), and Habitat for Humanity (they operate a couple of discount hardware stores). Housing prices are also really low right now, making it fairly easy to get a house in good shape for not that much money.

Similarly, if more anarchists and punks by houses, it would be pretty easy to pool our collective resources together to fix ‘em up or offer each other assistance with the process. In other cities, I have a seen a lot of networking between houses with things like food shares (sharing garden grown or dumpstered food with other houses), community projects such as Food Not Bombs or Really, Really Free Markets, regular workshops/potlucks, etc. As is the case with many things in Grand Rapids, there is potential—it just takes a few of us to commit to working on it.