What Does A Homeless Person Look Like?

One of my trustees recently suggested that It Takes A City, the homelessness charity that I have worked for over the last four years, look at using Instagram to increase our social media presence. 

This is a platform that I haven’t ever used myself, so I decided to set up an account linked to my work Facebook page and see whether it could be of value. 

I have often been asked ‘what does a homeless person look like?’ in response to telling my own story of nearly a decade without a place to call ‘home’. Thirty years on, I am settled with a roof over my head and a wife who I love very much. 

I started searching for accounts to follow that focused on homelessness, particularly peoples’ lived experience, and found one that resonated.  

My wife recently retired after over thirty years as a primary school teacher, so when I found The Homeless Teacher on Instagram it really brought that question into sharp focus.  

Many see homelessness as being the unkempt person sleeping under a blanket in a shop doorway. But it can and does affect each of us in different ways.  

You may be working next to someone today who is struggling with the pressures of life, who isn’t going home to a place of safety, who is maintaining the outward impression that everything is ‘normal’. 

The Homeless Teacher questions that perception. If you use Instagram, consider giving them a follow. Perhaps you might wish to buy them a coffee via the link on their page.  

Remember, be kind.