It is little secret that affordable housing in Jamestown is a problem, though in recent years the affordable housing crunch has shown up most publicly in the number of people being housed in hotels and motels throughout the county.

So it is little surprise why documentary photographer Karen Lippowiths would want to spend time in the city as part of her newest project, Extended Stay. Work on the exhibit will cross 13 states and 30 cities across Appalachia, from New York to Mississippi, starting earlier this week with a two-day stop in Jamestown. The project will document what Lippowiths described as America’s shadow housing system and the people relying on temporary rooms, long-term stays, shelters, and other unstable arrangements as permanent housing costs continue to increase. The project will culminate in a large-scale immersive exhibition in Huntington, W.V., planned for October 2027.

We can certainly understand why Jamestown is a stop on Lippowiths’ tour. Jamestown is part of an unfortunate group of cities that have struggled from having a glut of housing two decades ago – albeit a glut driven by poorly maintained, dilapidated housing stock at the lower end of the market – to a shortage of affordable housing now as poor units are demolished at the same time as rents skyrocketed. We would almost prefer if the situation was as simple as too many demolitions locally with not enough infill housing happening quickly, creating a short-term gap.

In a high-poverty area like ours, the increase in housing prices is so far outpacing household incomes that emergency housing costs paid by the county have skyrocketed, too. The knowledge that we aren’t alone dealing with a housing shortage, and that too many are living in temporary housing, is frustrating. The housing situation Lippowiths describes in her travels, and that she seeks to further document throughout Appalachia, won’t be remedied quickly because it’s not just a housing problem. In our opinion, what’s happening to the housing market is as much about the economy as it is housing supply. We need to build affordable housing, but we need to build a local economy that lessens the number of city residents living in poverty by increasing household incomes.

What Liebowitz is capturing in Jamestown and other cities is a struggling Appalachian economy. She’s just doing it through the lens of housing.