Humanizing the housing crisis to find solutions

Client type

Public agency

Issue area

Rural health

Housing issues

Substance use

Services

Campaigns

Issue framing

Our collaboration with the Center for Critical Public Health

We’re honored to work with the Center for Critical Public Health because they:

Focus on listening to and learning from people often left on the margins
Conduct rigorous research and make findings accessible to affected communities and advocates
Are transforming how public health engages with communities and works to align policy and practice

Opportunity

Humanize issues including housing challenges and substance use and create common ground for community members
Bring together siloed groups (e.g., Housing Authority and Tobacco Control) for collaborative solutions

Approach

Interviews with local housing advocates and community members to understand how to most effectively frame the issues and share information
Storytelling to move the discourse away from stereotypes, build empathy, and make housing issues relatable
Eye-catching posters designed by a local artist to display in community spaces

Poster series on housing issues in rural Northern California that makes research insights more relatable for all community members and builds common ground for action.

Health+ Studio collaborated with CCPH on a discovery process to get a deep understanding of CCPH research findings and research participants. We also conducted community member interviews to determine how to best share information and engage with community members about substance use and housing challenges.

Based on these learnings, Health+’s strategy was to humanize the issues through identifying four personas to feature in a poster series. The posters were designed to highlight the lived experiences of young adults in rural Northern California who are impacted by housing insecurity and the real challenges they face. The colorful illustration style of the posters served to draw people in to learn more from different perspectives, help them understand the multi-dimensional challenges of housing issues, and build common ground to create momentum for action.

Outcomes

Uncovered that housing challenges are closely tied to health-related issues, such as tobacco and alcohol use
Housing advocates were able to more successfully convene town halls and community meetings
Local leaders were able to shift the conversation and action around local affordable housing initiatives
CCPH research team invited to present findings at tobacco use-prevention meetings in Northern California

Let’s talk