Moving Ears 👂

Getting People Out of The Homeless Trap Through Active Listening and A Change of Roles

Mind Apivessa
Sep 5, 2018 · 7 min read

What do you do or think of when you see homeless people? I used to be that girl who would hand a homeless person my sandwich because I felt bad for them, but at the same time walk away right after because I was scared. I was scared because I heard from other people that they are drug addicts or that they might harm me. I assumed that all of them were the same.

The experience I had two weeks ago changed my perspective forever.

With two other friends, I immersed into the world of homelessness in SF. We were fascinated by the quality and variety of things homeless people collect as well as their skills. We wanted to find out whether they could better utilize those resources to take themselves out of the homelessness trap. We did various field studies, including conducting ad-hoc interviews on the streets, volunteering at GLIDE to help serve breakfast and observe people’s behaviors, and offering “listening service” around the Civic Center areas.

Volunteered at Glide
Foil, Yukari, and I walked around neighborhoods around Civic Center with the signs

We walked around with the signs that said “We are here to listen!”, “What do you think we are doing?”, and “Think you have skills?” to attract attention. We were very nervous and scared, until a homeless man stopped us and sang a small chorus of his favorite song. We loved his voice. He told us that he loves music, but never performs to earn money. The conversation gave us a good start — we were full of energy and confidence to continue đŸ’Ș

We carried the positive energy around to talk to 7 other people who approached us within that hour; some wanted to share their stories, some were curious about what we were doing, and some thought we were crazy. Through listening to a diverse group of people, including locals, a policeman, and homeless people themselves, we gained different perspectives about the homelessness issue.

Right before we were about to wrap up, a 70-year-old homeless veteran came up to us with a big smile on his face and said jokingly “how would I know what you are doing when you don’t even know?” in response to one of our signs that said “what do you think we are doing?”. We laughed and greeted him like we did to other people. We shared about our days; he shared about his. After our small exchanges, he told us about his experience being homeless. His story broke our hearts. He forcefully became homeless although he had the money to pay for his rent back then. He tried voicing his situations, but no one listened. He was promised by various organizations, but he never heard back. Although his hoarse voice made it difficult for us to hear some parts of his story, we felt his efforts as well as the hopelessness to get out of the homeless trap.

Even one day without a home is tough; imagine what it’s like to have no home for over 20 years.

His story saddened us, but helped us paint a clearer picture of the scale and nature of the problem by connecting his stories to our hearts.

Not Every Homeless Person Is The Same

Root-cause Analysis, Stakeholder Mapping, Ideation Sessions

We gathered the insights from all of the field studies, synthesized, and narrowed them down to these two key problems:

  1. There are negative stereotypes about homeless people held by outsiders. The common perceptions were that “they are drug addicts, armed, and lazy”, “they are like that because they don’t try” or “they just like being on the streets”. But everyone is different; each homeless individual has different problems; they got into and are stuck in the trap for varying reasons.
  2. There is a disconnect between those who want to help and those who need help. There are many initiatives intended to help alleviate the homelessness issue, but not everyone tackles the right problem. And when the help does not reach some homeless communities, they don’t feel like they are being heard. This accentuates the feeling of hopelessness and makes it harder for them to leave the trap.

Both groups need empathy from each other to better collaborate.

Our “final” problem statement

A Safe Space for Dialogs and Opportunities

Low-fidelity prototype of Moving Ears pop-up event concept. Illustrations from the noun project.

The Frontyard

The Lab

This not only improves organizations’ understanding of how diverse and complex homelessness problems are, but also gives homeless people the opportunity to feel the efforts being made by the community and lead the change themselves.

This is inspired by my human-centered design experiences and the IBM Enterprise Design Thinking Sponsor User* concept. Homelessness, just like other problems, cannot be addressed holistically and sustainably without a continuous and tight feedback loop between all stakeholders.

Through providing this space, we hope to build a mutual empathy between homeless people and those who are passionate about the problem space.

Also, in this pop-up space, the homeless become advisors to communities and changemakers. Being homeless is something that is almost impossible to simulate, but people can truly empathize by actively and continuously listening with an open mind and heart.

Takeaways

Even though we didn’t have time to take the project beyond research and low fidelity prototype, we’ve learned a lot. Here are my key takeaways:

  • It’s always worth spending the time to dig for the “real” problems. We spent 80% of the time we had talking to people, evaluating, and redefining our problem statement. Throughout the journey, we realized that if we pursued the initial problem statements after surveying a few people, our solution would not address the real need. It could instead create more problems in the system.
  • Always take a step back and see how the solution fits in the systemic level. We found by having a dynamic Stakeholder Map that we constantly updated was very helpful in visualizing who would be involved and affected by the solution. I am aware that it is impossible to foresee all the consequences, but I also believe that it’s our responsibility as designers to put a lot of effort into doing so because some things that have already been implement might have an irreversible impact.
  • Biases are inevitable, but by being aware and acting on them, we can create a more inclusive community. It’s very easy for us to point our fingers at someone and assign stereotypes, when in reality, every one of us is different. We all carry different stories, and without understanding the full picture, we wouldn’t be able to truly empathize.

What’s Next?

I’m currently unable to take the project forward myself as I’m finishing up my undergraduate degree on the east coast. However, I would love to hear from anyone who would be interested in learning more about the idea, giving feedback, and future collaborations. Feel free to email me at ta273@cornell.edu 😊


A special shoutout to Foil and Yukari, for going through the ride together and inspiring me with your insights, to VIA Program Director, Yi Zhang, and Coordinators for providing us with honest feedback and encouraging us to push our boundaries.

Thank you Sahil Khoja and Sophia Deng for all the feedback and support in editing this article!


Mind is a senior, Information Science major at Cornell University. She’s worked as a Product Design Intern at IBM and a Freelance UX Designer at Thai Airways. On campus, she’s the Creative Director of Guac Magazine, an award-winning, Cornell’s first ever travel magazine.

Thanks to Sahil Khoja and Sophia Deng. 

Mind Apivessa

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