Documentary photographer Karen Lippowiths, began her long-term project, EXTENDED STAY, in Jamestown, New York, on Monday, where she spent two days examining housing insecurity, emergency lodging, and the growing reliance on low-cost hotels as a substitute for permanent housing.

Jamestown is the first stop on a nine-month, 7,000-mile journey through 13 states and 30 cities. Along the way, Lippowiths will live and work from budget hotels and motels while documenting the people depending on them for shelter.

During her time in Jamestown, Lippowiths stayed at the Falconer Hotel (formerly the Quality Inn), where she gained a close look at how Department of Health and Human Services placements provide temporary shelter for people with nowhere else to turn.

Hotel placements offer an immediate alternative to sleeping unsheltered, in a vehicle, or unsafe environment. At the same time, they reveal the limitations of an emergency system increasingly required to function as housing. A motel room may provide a bed and a locked door, but it doesn’t provide permanence, privacy, or long-term stability.

Lippowiths’s decision to begin in Jamestown reflects both the region’s economic history and present-day housing pressures. Like many smaller postindustrial communities, Jamestown has experienced population loss, limited job growth, aging housing stock and rising costs. For residents already living close to the financial edge, a lost job, medical emergency, family crisis or unexpected expense can quickly lead to displacement. All of the locations Lippowiths plans to visit are identified as “economically distressed” according to the Appalachian Regional Commission.

During her visit, Lippowiths met with local organizations and service providers to better understand how housing insecurity manifests in Chautauqua County, including UCAN City Mission, Chautauqua Opportunities, and Hope Haven.

The project focuses on what she describes as America’s “shadow housing system”: motels, weekly-rate rooms, extended-stay properties and other temporary accommodations that have quietly become long-term residences for working adults, families, veterans, disabled residents, and people unable to qualify for conventional apartments.

These residents do not always appear in traditional images of homelessness. They may have a roof, a bed and a room key, yet remain without a lease, long-term security or meaningful protection from sudden displacement. Some move repeatedly among hotels, shelters, relatives’ homes and vehicles. Others remain in the same room for months or years.

Lippowiths notes that many people experiencing housing insecurity are employed, sometimes at more than one job. The central problem is often not an unwillingness to work, but the widening gap between wages and the actual cost of obtaining housing. Once a person begins paying nightly or weekly hotel rates, they quickly become rent-burdened (defined as spending more than a third of take-home pay on rent); saving enough to move becomes ever more difficult.

The least expensive hotel rooms are also frequently unavailable. Some are occupied through DHHS or voucher placements, while others are filled by other long-term residents. People are then pushed into more expensive properties, consuming even more of their limited income and making permanent housing increasingly out of reach.

Lippowiths’ work is intended to document not only the hardship, but also the labyrinthine system residents, hotel operators, county agencies and service providers must navigate. In Jamestown, a network of organizations attempt to provide shelter, case management, food assistance, and housing support.

The photographs, interviews, audio recordings and field materials gathered in Jamestown will become part of a larger immersive installation at the West Edge Factory supported by the Coalfield Development Corp and Recreate Appalachia in Huntington, WV planned for 2027. Lippowiths hopes to make visible housing instability that often remains hidden behind check-in desks and numbered doors.

Karen Lippowiths is an award-winning documentary photographer with 21 years of professional experience. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan with coursework from the Universite-Paris I Sorbonne. She has lived and worked in Paris, Chicago, New York, and throughout the U.S. Her work explores housing, displacement, and civil rights issues. She currently lives in Southeast Michigan with her husband and son.

Infinity Visual and Performing Arts is honored to receive a With Youth For Youth grant, selected by young people through the WNY WYFY youth-led grantmaking process. Infinity’s program was chosen because it reflects what youth reviewers were looking for: meaningful youth voice, clear benefits for young people, strong community impact, and a responsible plan to use funds to expand opportunities for youth.

The WYFY Youth Advisory Board just directed more than $2 million in With Youth For Youth grants to 40 out-of-school time and youth sports programs across the nine-county region. The 24-member WYFY Youth Advisory Board of young people ages 13–17 designed the process, reviewed applications, and selected recipients. Real decisions. Real dollars. Led by young people.

At Infinity, student voices help to shape programming as a consistent organizational practice, with many classes, workshops, and special events developing directly from student interests and feedback. The With Youth For Youth grant will allow Infinity to build on that tradition by expanding its After School Creators program, and increasing the number of group classes, workshops, student community nights, leadership opportunities, performance experiences, and student-planned field trips.

As part of the initiative, Infinity’s Teen Advisory Committee will work alongside Infinity staff and teaching artists to provide feedback on future classes, workshops, field trip destinations, and student activities. While Infinity's core programming staff will oversee implementation, the committee will help ensure new opportunities reflect student interests and ideas while continuing the organization's long-standing commitment to listening to the young people it serves.

"This award is especially meaningful because it reflects the confidence that young people from all across Western New York have placed in Infinity and the work we do every day," said Shane Hawkins, Executive Director of Infinity Visual and Performing Arts, Inc. "Our mission has always been to create opportunities where young people can grow, learn, and lead through the arts. This grant allows us to expand those opportunities while giving our own students an even stronger voice in shaping the experiences they want to see at Infinity. We're so excited to bring these new ideas to life together!"

For nearly 28 years, Infinity has created a welcoming environment where young people can grow, learn, and lead through participation in the visual and performing arts. Each year, approximately 350 students participate in Infinity's on-site programming, receiving more than 12,000 private lessons and over 4,200 hours of group instruction. Infinity also serves approximately 1,100 additional youth annually through school and community partnerships while providing nearly $40,000 in need-based scholarships to help ensure financial circumstances never become a barrier to participation.

As Infinity prepares for the launch of these expanded opportunities, the organization is also seeking additional teaching artists in a variety of artistic disciplines to support growing programming. Registration is currently open for the 2026-27 program year, and families interested in learning more about Infinity are invited to attend Infini-Con, Infinity's free community open house and mini convention event on Friday, August 28 from 4-7pm. The event will feature facility tours, cosplay, opportunities to meet instructors, hands-on creative activities, and information about the wide variety of music, visual arts, dance, theater, and performance opportunities available throughout the upcoming year.

"The most impactful ideas often come directly from the young people we serve," Hawkins added. "This investment gives us the opportunity to listen even more intentionally, create even more collaboratively, and continue building a place where every student knows their voice matters and feels ownership and belonging within our Infinity community."

For more information about Infinity, visit www.infinityperformingarts.org.