from the ground up

Barth, a freelance journalist, spent time in three different Bay Area encampments of unhoused people, including Oakland’s Wood Street Commons, and, as Gov. Gavin Newsom moves forward on a new task force targeting these areas for removal, he argues that solutions to homelessness should come from the ground up, with the involvement of those most affected.

“Remodeling a kitchen or bathroom is onerous for most people. But building a house from the ground up is almost impossible,” Roy said.

Keaton spent a staggering eight years on a gut renovation of the home, which effectively saw her rebuilding it from the ground up, a process that she documented in her 2017 book, “The House That Pinterest Built.”

"There's a real probability that we're going to be able to manufacture materials from the ground up with crazy precision," he said.

But there is another path: Real progress happens from the ground up.