Housing Leadership Council’s Youth Poetry Competition

In 2020, the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County in collaboration with San Mateo County Poet Laureate Aileen Cassinetto launched the first countywide Youth Poetry & Art Competition to encourage young people to explore their notion of home and to raise awareness of Affordable Housing Month. Given the continuing housing crisis in the Bay Area, this project is critical in bringing young people into the broader conversation of building healthy communities which includes access to adequate and affordable housing for everyone.

The theme in 2020 was “Home Could Be Here”; in 2021, the theme was “Growing Home” based on the 2020 winning poem by Abigale Wee. This project is aimed at empowering youth and supporting housing justice.