Manchester's pledge to improve representation of homelessness in the media
During 2019 and 2020, the Booth Centre Media Group (made up of people affected by homelessness) discussed the negative coverage of homelessness that had been achieving high viewer ratings. The coverage also directly impacted individuals who saw themselves or people they knew portrayed in a way that never aimed to educate the viewer on the whole picture, instead simply reinforcing inaccurate and negative stereotypes and the othering of people affected by homelessness.
The Media Group shared personal experiences of homelessness and interacting with the media and the decision was made to formalise our approach to the media. We've now asked other organisations to take the pledge and commit to ending these inaccurate and damaging representations to allow positive change to happen. We are grateful to everyone who has shown their support so far. Together we can achieve more!
The Media Group shared personal experiences of homelessness and interacting with the media and the decision was made to formalise our approach to the media. We've now asked other organisations to take the pledge and commit to ending these inaccurate and damaging representations to allow positive change to happen. We are grateful to everyone who has shown their support so far. Together we can achieve more!
| Manchester's Pledge - Representations of homelessness in the media |
Changing local systems“It isn't hard to conceptualise homelessness as one of the biggest systems fails of all time. People become - and remain- homeless not because of the choices they make, but because of the choices we make as a society. We choose to view housing as a commodity rather than a basic human necessity. We choose to set welfare benefit rates at below the real cost of living. And we choose to reduce spending on key public services that might help to prevent people becoming homeless in the first place. The cumulative impact of these choices has been an exponential rise in the number of people finding themselves without a place to call home.
This report highlights the kind of local systems activity that can profoundly alter the life courses of many individuals. It shows what is possible when people work together to achieve changes they could not achieve on their own.” - Rick Henderson, CEO, Homeless Link The Booth Centre is proud to be included as a case study in this report, published September 2020. |
| ||
Co-production
At the Booth Centre we recognise the importance of working collaboratively with people who come to the centre to design, deliver and evaluate our services. This concept of partnership working is at the heart of what we do and forms one of our most important values.
In 2018, we were proud to win a National Award for Excellence in Co-production at Homeless Link's annual excellence awards!
In 2018, we were proud to win a National Award for Excellence in Co-production at Homeless Link's annual excellence awards!
Homeless Link - Going beyond podcast
|
We were thrilled to take part in Homeless Link's podcast series Going Beyond, which explores the importance of relationships when working with people experiencing homelessness.
In episode five, our founder Amanda speaks about how we aim to increase the feeling of control people who visit us have over their lives. |
|
Homeless Link - best practice videos
We were invited to support Homeless Link in the development of their Co-production Toolkit, to support other homeless services in integrating a culture of genuine co-production in their organisations. Take a look below.
The importance of co-production |
What qualities are important in staff? |
"Full co-production means sharing power – giving people who use services an equal chance to sit at the table and make decisions about how to run it better. It means building up their confidence and developing their skills so that they can participate fully. It also means involving staff in the process and not just managers and trustees." - Homeless Link, 2018 |
What makes a good service? |
The assessment process |
|
Our approach to partnership working
