Moving Ears đ
Getting People Out of The Homeless Trap Through Active Listening and A Change of Roles
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 peopleâs behaviors, and offering âlistening serviceâ around the Civic Center areas.




We walked around with the signs that said âWe are here to listen!â, âWhat do you think we are doing?â, and âThink you have skills?â 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 â we were full of energy and confidence to continue đȘ
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 âhow would I know what you are doing when you donât even know?â in response to one of our signs that said âwhat do you think we are doing?â. 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 itâs 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
The field studies made us realize that this problem is extremely complex, where addressing the wrong pain points will still cause more problems on a systemic level. Therefore, despite the limited amount of time that we had, we put a lot of work into identifying and defining the problems.

We gathered the insights from all of the field studies, synthesized, and narrowed them down to these two key problems:
- There are negative stereotypes about homeless people held by outsiders. The common perceptions were that âthey are drug addicts, armed, and lazyâ, âthey are like that because they donât tryâ or âthey just like being on the streetsâ. But everyone is different; each homeless individual has different problems; they got into and are stuck in the trap for varying reasons.
- 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 donât 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.

A Safe Space for Dialogs and Opportunities
âMoving Earsâ pop-up space concept aims to address the problems by providing a safe space to connect the local community to the homeless people. The idea comprises of two main components: The Frontyard and The Lab.

The Frontyard
Like how we stop by our neighborsâ front yards to say hi and ask how their days are, Moving Earsâ Frontyard invites people in the neighborhoods to converse and exchange ideas around the homelessness issue. We tested and believe that we can inspire someone by actively listening to what they have to say.
The Lab
Unlike the Frontyard, where anyone in the community could just grab a chair and join a conversation, the Lab provides a more private and formal space to connect those who have started initiatives related to the homelessness issue to people who are or used to be homeless. Organizations can search for homeless people in our network, schedule meetings to gain insights, or even sign contract for them to work as Sponsor Users*.
This not only improves organizationsâ 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
This project was a 2-day rollercoaster ride. Our moods changed every time we went out to conduct field studies and realized new moving parts of the problem. I can say that this is the project that I am most emotionally-invested in by far.
Even though we didnât have time to take the project beyond research and low fidelity prototype, weâve learned a lot. Here are my key takeaways:
- Itâs always worth spending the time to dig for the ârealâ 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 itâs 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. Itâs 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 wouldnât be able to truly empathize.
Whatâs Next?
I worked with two amazing friends on this project (Foil Ruengpeerakul and Yukari Mizuno) over the course of 2 days as a part of VIA Exploring Social Innovation, a program founded at Stanford University. The idea I presented above is the latest iteration that I continued to work on after the program. Itâs still a half-baked idea, where a lot of investigations are needed to address the core problems and minimize unforeseen consequences.
Iâm currently unable to take the project forward myself as Iâm 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 đ
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. Sheâs worked as a Product Design Intern at IBM and a Freelance UX Designer at Thai Airways. On campus, sheâs the Creative Director of Guac Magazine, an award-winning, Cornellâs first ever travel magazine.
