Homeless Challenge Project

Challenge the people and leaders of your community to take a Homeless Challenge.  This program asks individuals from economically privileged backgrounds to give up everyday things (i.e. cell phones, warm bed, and shelter), and live on the streets as a person experiencing homelessness. The experience can last as long as one might like, but a minimum of 48 hours is recommended.

The Homeless Challenge serves as an educational tool providing awareness to those who participate.  While a participant certainly cannot experience homelessness entirely when a bed and food awaits back home, the Challenge does offer new insights into the life of person without a home – waiting in soup lines, walking great distances to access services, feeling ‘invisible’ to those not homeless.

How to Begin

For a detailed manual about the Homeless Challenge as coordinated by the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC contact:

Jonathan Bell
Director, Homeless Challenge Project
National Coalition for the Homeless
2201 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20037-1033
Phone: (202) 462-4822 x 230; Fax: (202) 462-4823
Email: jbell@nationalhomeless.org
Website:  www.nationalhomeless.org

• The Homeless Challenge works best if coordinated with guides (either currently homeless or formerly homeless) who can stay throughout the night with participants for security reasons. Make sure to recruit enough guides such that each guide stays with a maximum of three participants to avoid large crowds which might draw attention. In addition, a small ratio of guides to participants allows for each participant to have genuine conversation with a person who is experiencing or has experienced homelessness, as well as share their day’s experiences with their guide and with each other. 

Contact local shelters for recommendations of potential guides and to notify staff of your plans. For contact information of local shelters or homeless coalitions, contact the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Remember to offer an honorarium to your guides – i.e. $50 per guide, per night.

Personal Preparation Tips

• Dress in your worst clothes. Clothing should be old and comfortable which you won't mind getting dirty. A warm coat is a really good idea.
  
  
• Bring along one piece of ID and bury it in your sock

• Wear no jewelry or watches.
  
  
• Refrain from taking a shower for at least two days before beginning the challenge. No cologne, deodorant or use of scented soap. Rub unscented baby oil into your hair to make it look like your hair hasn't been washed for sometime. For men, don't shave for five days before starting the plunge.

• Wear extra layers of clothes even if it is warm out. Homeless people wear extra clothes as they have no place to store clothes in the daytime and it keeps them warm at night.

• Wear ruffed up old shoes.

• Bring along a sheet of cardboard for use as a mattress.

• Bring along an old blanket. Sleeping bags are okay, but not the state‑of‑the‑art down sleeping bags but the flannel type of sleeping bags used by Boy and Girl Scouts. A sheet of plastic or black garbage bags will also be useful in case of rain or snow.

• Women are encouraged to bring along sanitary napkins, as shelters don't always have these items available for free.

• Bring along a pack of cigarettes, plus matches, to share with homeless people. Giving someone a cigarette is a good way to start a conversation.
  
  

Activities to Take Part in During Your Homeless Challenge Experience

• Talk with and listen to other homeless people

• Beg for money. Asking for money is about giving someone the opportunity to do a good deed. Challenge participants are sometimes reluctant to do this. We're taught that nothing in life is for free, that it's better not to ask people for anything. Panhandle rich and poor alike. You're likely to get a better response from the so‑called “working poor”.  Split up, but keep your partner in sight. Panhandle for at least two hours. Re-group to see who was the most successful and what techniques worked best.

• Sleep outside. Don't expect to get much sleep as the police might chase you off.

• Do not stay in shelters as you might be taking away a bed from someone who really needs it. Sleep outside, regardless of the weather, with the unsheltered homeless. However, hang out in or in front of shelters, day centers or religious missions to get to know better your fellow homeless people.

• Go into cafeterias, fast food restaurants and look for food scraps left on the tables.  Don’t ask for permission from the manager.  Use a plastic bag. Eat the food and stay in the facility until the manager runs you out.

• Go to restaurants and ask if you could sweep the sidewalk for a sandwich.

• Go into fancy restaurants, hotels, office buildings and ask if you could use the restroom.

• Eat three meals a day or even more at the local soup kitchens. In most cities finding food is a relatively easy endeavor so don't worry about eating food meant for homeless people as there is plenty of food to be found while on the streets. Even if you are not hungry, go to the soup kitchens anyway. This will familiarize yourself with other homeless people and the various food programs in the city.

• Many religious missions nationwide still require homeless people to attend services as a condition for getting a meal or a bed for the night. To get a feel of how homeless people are treated by religious institutions, sit in on a mandatory religious service.

• Find a highly visible place to sleep (e.g. park bench, heat grate, bus stop bench). Go to these places late at night to guarantee you are not taking away someone's favorite spot. If this somehow happens, give up you spot and move somewhere else.  Have your partner stay awake at all times. Do this in two-hour shifts.

• Go dumpster diving looking for food and recyclable materials. You might be shocked by the "abundance from the streets." Watch out for needles. Use a stick instead of your hands. If you must use your hands, borrow a pair of work gloves.

• Apply for work at fast food restaurants. Tell them you live in a well‑known shelter or live on the streets. Tell them that you don't have an address, but you are willing to come back daily to find out if there are any job openings.

Candidate Challenge

For the Candidate Homeless Challenge, possible alternatives include:
           
Homeless Challenge (Short Version):  Same as the above, but anywhere from 12 to 24 hours.  Participants are asked to eat at soup kitchens and panhandle.  Candidates would have a guide with them for the duration, staying mindful of the guide’s daily experiences. We suggest that this challenge be taken during the night.

Listening Session:  Candidates/public officials, homeless persons, service providers, and/or advocates sit down and have moderated frank discussions about such things as public policy, homelessness/poverty services, etc. as well as the root causes and solutions to homelessness with those people who can create change. 

“Walk a Mile in My Shoes”:  Participants are paired with a homeless or formerly homeless person and will spend half of the day or the entire day together doing such things as having lunch at a soup kitchen, sharing where they sleep for the night, or just trying to access social services.  It is an opportunity for the participant to share quality time with someone who is homeless whom will share their struggles and hardships of life on the streets with the participant.

For more information or to request a Homeless Challenge Project manual, contact: