Can Storytelling Combat Homelessness and Foster Empathy?
Homelessness constitutes a profound, visible, and unacceptable health injustice. Research indicates homelessness significantly increases mortality risk.
Following disasters leaving people without shelter, support, or safety, we readily mobilize aid. Agencies like FEMA and the National Guard deploy resources to provide essential needs, while communities offer assistance and support. During crises, we demonstrate neighborly compassion.
However, in cases of job loss, health crises, relationship breakdowns, mental illness, or addiction, our response often falters. Assistance is infrequent, empathy wanes, and inaction becomes the norm. There’s no equivalent mobilization of resources.
An underlying sentiment suggests those experiencing homelessness don’t deserve help. Collaboration between policymakers and content creators can address this. Hollywood and institutions like Harvard have crucial roles in alleviating homelessness’s suffering.
How we perceive homelessness
While homelessness is a widespread concern, the focus often lies on removal rather than rehousing. Public officials increasingly utilize force to displace people experiencing homelessness, fueled by legislation permitting arrests for public sleeping, as detailed in Kevin Adler and Donald Burns’ When We Walk By, highlighting our failure to act as neighbors.
This contrasting response exposes a larger community crisis: defining ourselves as individuals and a nation. This self-definition is crucial in addressing a growing homeless crisis, impacting millions nightly and far more annually. Progress requires acknowledging the crisis as a collective responsibility. People without homes are our neighbors, and any of us could face homelessness. Our treatment of the unhoused reflects our character, mirroring our response to disaster victims.
Countering the dehumanization of those on the streets through storytelling is vital. This dehumanization exacerbates the crisis and fosters a sense of irresponsibility.
How Hollywood can help address homelessness
Sharing stories of homelessness allows us to consider personal vulnerability. This empathetic shift mirrors our responses to disaster victims.
Strategic storytelling can positively impact health crises. Studies show that watching films addressing climate change (like An Inconvenient Truth and The Day After Tomorrow) increases climate action intent. The effect is amplified when films (such as Don’t Look Up) are paired with educational videos from influencers.
Regarding mental health, the Norman Lear Center found that watching shows depicting mental health storylines reduces stigma. Our work at the Harvard Chan School shows exposure to positive mental health narratives on TikTok reduces stigma in comments and may encourage help-seeking behavior.
Similar strategies should be used to address homelessness in various media. Films like The Pursuit of Happyness, The Soloist, and Nomadland successfully humanize homelessness. We also need projects exploring systemic issues causing housing instability. Encouraging public figures and influencers with personal experience to share their stories on platforms like TikTok and Instagram is crucial. We can all participate by listening to our neighbors’ stories.
Sharing these narratives strengthens community bonds. We can become the caring neighbors Fred Rogers encouraged us to be. Everyone—from screenwriters to influencers to ordinary citizens—can contribute to changing the narrative.
People losing homes, whether due to disasters or homelessness, need assistance. Storytelling can initiate this. Collective action, fostered through empathy and a shared sense of responsibility, is essential for change. By imagining ourselves in the situation of others, we strengthen our connections to both those suffering and ourselves.