Background:
Raising the Roof (RTR) supports long-term solutions for the homeless: Not temporary shelters but affordable housing. However, policy makers fail to see the value in this approach and the public takes an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ view to the homeless.
The Act:
In 2015, one month before a federal election, RTR wanted to make the issue part of the debate. A neighbourhood space was covered with a sign suggesting a shelter would be moving in. Within hours, the desired reaction flooded the community and press: “We don’t want the homeless in our neighbourhood, stick them somewhere else.”
This was followed by RTR’s POV: “We don’t want shelters either. We want long-term solutions.” RTR asked the public to put just as much energy into getting the government to act as they did in trying to push the homeless out.