Does anybody know of an inexpensive rental that might be available to a small family? They are living in a small trailer now and I can’t stand it.
— posting on Nextdoor.com, January 16, by a Pagosa Springs resident.
I hear that Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha are expecting a fourth child, which — according to my pocket calculator — will result in a family of six, counting the proud parents.
The Vice President has made no secret of his contention that America “needs more babies”. At a March for Life rally last week, the Vice President joked that the Republican-sponsored One Big Beautiful Bill’s child tax credit was the reason behind his decision to have a fourth child. (Presumably it was a shared decision.)
But young workers in Pagosa Springs don’t seem to be embracing the Vice President’s call for increased bedroom outcomes. Back in 2021, the non-profit Pagosa Housing Partners surveyed about 550 full-time residents and found that the majority of them live in one- or two-person households.
Of the workers who responded, 15% — 75 of them — live in one-person households (if you can even call that a “household”?)
And 45% — 247 of them — lived in two-person households, which could be any mix of people — a married couple (gay or not) or a single parent with one child, or two unrelated people trying to work out who will clean the goddamn kitchen for once, if you don’t mind. (A conversation that “related people” can also have.)
So we can estimate that about 60% of our residents live in small households. In small houses? Or small apartments?
But all too often, in small trailers.
The woman who posted the Nextdoor message above, asking about an inexpensive rental for a small family living in a small trailer, sounded a bit frustrated, and might not have been in the best mood for posting the request. She could have told us, for example, how small the family was, and in which dimension. A small number of individuals? Or maybe, a larger number of very small people?
We know that they are currently fitting into a small trailer, but we don’t know how small the trailer might be. Obviously, small enough to frustrate a friend or neighbor who can no longer stand it.
Here is a picture of a fish living in a small space.
He seems happy enough. But he’s a fish. (Or she.)
My point here is, a person can be reasonably happy in a small space, so long as they aren’t paying $2,600 a month rent. Which happens to be the typical rent in Pagosa Springs. I seriously hope the small family living in the frustratingly small trailer aren’t paying rent.
We note that the fish, shown above, seems to live in a one-person household. I also have a one-person household, but I have a cat for company. He’s not a large cat, and I’m not very big myself.
It doesn’t pay to be big, in a place like Pagosa Springs.
This is not the first time in American history that a large number of people have been crowded into small spaces. The same thing was going on 100 years ago, if you were poor. And nearly everyone was poor. Sure, there were millionaires with big houses, but not much in the way of a “middle class”.
Like 2026. Not much in the way of a “middle class” unless you were born into the Baby Boomer generation (which I was, by the skin of my teeth) and worked at a secure job with a pension plan and health insurance (which I didn’t do, also by the skin of my teeth.)
The main problem as I see it, however, is small families. Not just small in number — two people at the most — but also, small in stature. You can’t really live in a small trailer if you stand taller than 5′ 6″. Better to be shorter than 5 foot, if possible.
But how can our economy function with only small people?
Who is going to stock the top shelves at the supermarket?
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.