The Reluctant Pioneers

You’ve probably seen viral videos on social media about how quaint it is to live an off-grid life. But these videos belie something more problematic going on beneath the surface. An affordable housing crisis that’s affecting the working and middle class more all the time. Eight of the ten states with the least affordable housing are in the American West. And that’s causing lots of resilient westerners to get creative about their living situations. Including Host Melodie Edwards who shares her own story of living off grid in a canvas dome in a no man’s land in northern Arizona.

Ken and Melodie leveling

Dome with Ken

Ken & Melodie in trailer

Cheap Dirt : The Trailer

Westerners are believers in “pick yourself up, dust yourself off,” and so lots of people are finding oddball workarounds to the affordable housing crisis. They’re buying cheap land and moving into yurts, RV’s, old mobile homes, tiny houses, couch surfing or even living out of their cars. But is it really a fair solution to rely on us Westerners to just cowboy up?