They who hold the power shape the narrative

If you have lived through housing insecurity and homelessness or worked in a nonprofit as a shelter provider, tenant organizer, nonprofit housing developer or policy advocate you know that having a home is fundamental to thriving, losing a home is traumatizing and fining people experiencing homelessness is unproductive and shameful. The progress that the nonprofit housing sector has generated over several decades is irrefutable, from persuading policymakers to increase funding for housing vouchers to preventing evictions during the pandemic and fueling affordable housing development through community land trusts. And yet rental housing and homeownership is increasingly unattainable across most income brackets. In this episode of Power Station, Marisol Bello, shares how the Housing Narrative Lab is countering damaging messages embedded in our culture about who becomes homeless and why. It is building a new, more nuanced narrative that emphasizes empathy over blame and policy solutions over criminalization. We discuss the Lab's newest report, conducted with the National Homelessness Law Center, that probes public perceptions of and experiences with homelessness. The fact that so many respondents know homelessness up close is foundational to a powerful new movement for change.