Museum of Homelessness

This social justice organisation, created and run by people with direct experience of homelessness, found a novel way to respond to the pandemic.

The Museum of Homelessness (MoH) is working to build the first national collection for homelessness in the UK, a community of people who are rarely acknowledged or heard from, or whose lives are misrepresented in traditional media. But when the pandemic hit, the organisation pivoted from its archival and creative work and turned its attention to practical support and campaigning.

MoH’s work with Homeless Taskforce partners to petition government to open hotels for homeless people to self-isolate was adopted as national strategy amid the first national lockdown. Their direct action led to around 30,000 people being offered a safe space during the pandemic.

Their creative work returned in 2021 with the curation of the Secret Museum, an immersive exhibition that aimed to illustrate what happened to people living on the margins during the pandemic. The free event was set up in a hidden central London location, which viewers could only find through a series of clues left around the streets of the capital.

The exhibition itself featured objects and stories from activists, community organisers and people with lived experience of homelessness, including a number of powerful first-person testimonies retold by actors.