Challenge

How might we better form an intervention targeting the lack of affordable housing for the homeless?

Background

Over the past decade, the United States has experienced a surge in homelessness and many cities are struggling to respond. The growing homeless crisis in Austin, Texas has become an extremely controversial issue. In 2019, the Austin City Council lifted the homeless camping ban, allowing individuals to rest and camp on public property. The coronavirus has put thousands of individuals within the community at risk of facing housing instability as evictions begin to resume. Homeless individuals are at an increased risk of being exposed to communicable diseases and developing chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Process

We began our research process with a literature review to further explore the history and contributing factors of homelessness. We conducted a stakeholder analysis to identify the key players and explore current and past initiatives to combat homelessness.

We completed in-depth interviews both via zoom and in-person with service providers, subject matter experts, and individuals currently experiencing homelessness. The interviews uncovered the needs of our community and helped us better understand the challenges homeless individuals face. We used affinity mapping, journey mapping, and service blueprinting to synthesize our data. Our analysis led us to three valuable insights.

Insight #1: The individuals experiencing homelessness lack support on all sides.

There is no sense of community among the homeless population. The prevalence of robbery and assault within homeless encampments has resulted in deep-seated distrust between homeless individuals. If a homeless person does not qualify for a case manager, there are limited resources available to connect and help with basic services such as applying for identification or subsidies.

Insight #2: Empathy is the root of all solutions when it comes to homelessness.

A lack of empathy has created implicit biases and resulted in racist policies that are portrayed through the gentrification of East Austin. Fostering empathy is imperative to overcome stigma and the us vs. them mentality present in society. We must come together as a community to full address homelessness.

Insight #3: The services in place are robust, but fragmented.

Case managers are an essential component to ending the cycle of homelessness. It can take several months or years for a homeless person to be assigned a case manager if they do not rank highly based on need. Without a case manager, many homeless individuals feel as if they have been left behind by the current system.

Solution

How might we evoke empathy within the community while providing support to individuals experiencing homelessness that do not immediately qualify for a case manager?

Many individuals experiencing homelessness find themselves in the “grey area”, between severe need and not. These individuals are not assigned a case manager within a timely manner and struggle accessing resources. Neighbors No Matter connects civically engaged community members seeking to improve the quality of life for vulnerable individuals and matches them with an individual experiencing homelessness. The objective of Neighbors No Matter is to reduce the social barrier that people experiencing homelessness face and provide access to support resources in hopes of ending the vicious cycle of homelessness.

Neighbors No Matter uses a two pronged approach that incorporates a virtual reality stimulation and a mentorship program. The virtual reality stimulation hopes to evoke empathy by allowing individuals to virtually experience being homeless. The aim of the mentorship program is to fill the gap individuals experiencing homelessness face within the ‘grey area’ by providing a social support system.

Mentors are matched with an individual experiencing homelessness that are in the ‘grey area,’ the waitlist to be assigned a case manager. Mentors connect individuals experiencing homelessness with resources and provide temporary aid completing housing or identification applications. Neighbors No Matter strives to reduce the stigma associated with being homeless and to build a stronger, more inclusive community. We completed the theory of change framework to determine if our outcome matched our initial goal.

Implementation

The implementation of Neighbors No Matter would be divided into six segments and estimated to take 6 months. The second and third segment of implementation includes marketing and outreach in the community and homeless population to increase awareness of the program and gather participants. A pilot virtual reality experience would be conducted to measure the potential impact and determine best feedback metrics. Once implemented, we intend to gather participants for the mentorship program through social media and word of mouth.

Feedback

Empathy campaigns have the potential to be extremely effective, but they must be targeted towards influencing demographics. If the virtual reality stimulation does not motivate individuals to participate in the mentorship program, partner with companies that require employer-sponsored volunteerism.

Communication barriers may pose challenges for mentors when scheduling meetings with an individual experiencing homelessness. Federally funded ObamaPhones should be encouraged for use by people experiencing homelessness to communicate with their mentors.

Limitations and Next Steps

The location of the virtual reality experience was intended to be at popular community events such as farmers markets, pop-up events, and South by Southwest. Due to the pandemic, these events have been postponed or have strict restrictions. The pandemic has also limited resources available to the homeless and has paused many homeless provider operations.

We would like to explore how individuals can share their experiences being homeless to other community members virtually. We need to create a safer experience to recruit community members, but with the same framework of empathy and understanding.