by Caitlin Kenney

Kari posted this picture to our Flickr pool in January. She writes:

This photo was taken in Ukiah, CA, which is two hours north of San Francisco. We aren't having the severe housing collapse that other communities have had - but the evidence of the downturn is still quite visible all over town. Houses empty seemingly overnight, never-ending newspaper announcements about foreclosures, small businesses closing up suddenly. We are also having teacher layoffs and government worker furloughs though that is more the direct result of the current California budget catastrophe. Our local homeless center is under a lot of strain at the moment as well. It's the same story all over, I suppose.
 

The sticker on the house reads:

On 11/8/08 we found this property to be vacant/abandoned and will report same to your mortgage holder. The mortgage holder has the right and duty to protect the property and in all probability will have it secured and/or winterized within 3 days. If this property is NOT VACANT, please call your mortgage holder immediately.