HireTheHomeless.com + Greek Devised Theater

Housing and Homelessness

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative

Many people view homelessness as a major problem in Los Angeles, a city where more than 69,000 residents lack housing. The problem affects the neighborhoods and communities in which the homeless occupy, but mostly it affects the homeless people themselves. There are already many services available for the homeless in Los Angeles, providing health care, food, even temporary and long-term shelter, but the number of homeless keeps growing. From 2015-2022 LA county PEH increased by 56%, becoming the largest homeless population in the country, overtaking New York City, which had an 18% decline. This trend is tied to cultural evolution, economic limitations, social development, and our educational and mental health systems. Many factors lead to homelessness and the best solutions can emerge by getting to the root of the matter.

NMA is developing a unique way to spread awareness and get to the root of the problem by interviewing homeless people for cash. NMA staff, volunteers, and eventually a network of like-minded solution-finders will pay panhandlers $1 per minute for a video interview, with the purpose of discovering what really matters to them and what would make a lasting difference. These interviews will then be posted on a new website HireTheHomeless.com as a national resource, and also condensed and used in a live theatrical production in Los Angeles by the NMA ensemble to raise awareness about the issue. The production will pair the modern-day interviews with an ancient Aristophanes play, Plutus, to explore the similarities and differences of the issue of poverty and homelessness through time. Not Man Apart is always interested in giving a voice to underrepresented populations, and what better way than to empower and dignify the homeless population of Los Angeles with cash payments for their contributions. To that end, a select few interested homeless individuals will be invited to participate in the show creation and performance in Los Angeles. NMA is interested in advocating for social change through the arts, we believe this innovative approach will do more than create content for our new website and theatrical production, but expose the roots of the cultural issue of homelessness on a local, national, and global level.

Los Angeles will be different from this project because the homeless population will be hired and helped, but most importantly listened to and given an empowered voice. The general communities of Los Angeles (and specifically the law makers and invested service organizations) will be invited to attend the resulting NMA performance to offer new perspectives and solutions to the issue. Finally, through HireTheHomeless.com, the whole country and global community will be more educated and informed about the root of homelessness and be inspired to answer calls to action. Apart from the immediate cash payments and direct creative opportunities to the homeless community presented in this project, we hope that the real change to Los Angeles will be a qualitative improvement over time and reduce the number of people living on the streets, by discovering the important matters to address and connecting the people to address them.

The first measure of success will be to establish the operation of HireTheHomeless.com and launch the website with initial interview examples. From here the promotion of the site and increased traffic/participation can be measured, we would like to receive over 2000 5-minute video interviews, which will inject over $10000 of direct, dignified support into the homeless community of Los Angeles. We would like this funding and target to increase as the project continues through a global network. Next, the editing of these interviews into concise documentary videos and sound bites that can be used in a live performance and also posted as promotion and advocacy to community stakeholders. The creation and devising of the performance using these interviews, using the Ancient Greek play, Plutus, will be a concrete measure of success, with a performance schedule and measurable audience attendance. Public officials and organization leaders will be invited to participate in solution discussions.