A room with the homeless: $10
Posted at 10:45 AM on January 8, 2013
by Bob Collins
(4 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising
Three years ago was the deadline a former governor set for wiping out homelessness in Minnesota. He -- we -- missed. Nobody's been able to wipe out homelessness. There simply isn't enough interest in doing so, apparently.
Maybe it's time to take a marketing page from Sweden, where a campaign has launched to allow people to "book" rooms where the homeless sleep.
Unfortunately, the website is all in Swedish, but the blog AdFreak translates one entry:
"Feel the city's pulse from dawn to dusk at Gullbergsvass," begins the description of a claustrophobic concrete slab-shelf near a busy roadway. "This delightful dwelling is just a stroll from the romantic Dreamer's Quay: a source of inspiration to musicians and artists alike."
Comments (4)
If you have Chrome installed use it (instead of internet explorer) Chrome will ask if you want google to Translate it. Not perfect but makes it readable.
or visit http://translate.google.com drop in the web address then click the link on the 'translated' side. it will do one page at a time, I prefer the using Chrome method.
"There simply isn't enough interest in doing so, apparently"
Or the underlying reasons for homelessness are more complex and varied than many people imagine. Even in Sweden, a country that cares for its citizens from craddle to grave, homelessness is a problem.
Perhaps the best we can hope for is to make things better for the people we can reach and who want our help.
As someone who spent 3 years homeless it amazes me how the first people we look to is politicians. When I first lost everything and became homeless it made the front page of the Star Tribune. I was amazed what followed. People from as far as California started writing to politicians like Al Franken. One MN Republican Senator invited me to meet with him and after hearing my story escorted me down to personally try to set up a meeting with Gov Dayton. He even emailed his staff to followup. But The meeting never happened. Keith Ellison reached out via twitter asking to meet but then got too busy so he blocked me on twitter. Politicians have nothing to gain from Homeless. Its community action and support that will and can help the homeless. Were kidding ourselves if we think most politicians care
Greg's story is told by Strib's Kevin Diaz in the Dec. 22, 2009 article "Homeless for the Holidays."
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