Housing Choice and Access in the Eastern Coachella Valley: An Ethnographic Study of Housing among Low-Wage Workers
Student Work
Christian Mendez
June 2019
The focus of this project is to more holistically understand housing typologies and choices in the Eastern Coachella Valley by looking beyond availability data and rent price to the social, economic, and physical considerations that drive some to live in “unexpected” places or conditions. This is an ethnographic analysis of rural, low-wage workers and their housing choices in the Eastern Coachella Valley, CA (Thermal, Oasis, Mecca, and North Shore), and Mendez seeks to debunk commonly held perceptions and humanize the discussion around housing choice.
