Picture the Homeless

Picture the Homeless
Name	Picture the Homeless
Founded	1999
Founder	Members of New York City unhoused community
Headquarters	New York City
Region served	New York City metropolitan area
Focus	Homelessness advocacy, housing policy, tenant organizing

Picture the Homeless is a New York City-based advocacy collective originally formed by people with lived experience of homelessness that campaigns for housing justice, tenant power, and systemic change. The organization operates at the intersection of grassroots organizing, research, and media, drawing on alliances with local and national groups to influence policy debates in municipal and state arenas. Its work frequently engages with coalitions and institutions across housing, civil rights, and urban policy networks.

History

The group traces origins to street-based activists who organized around encampment rights and shelter conditions in the late 1990s, connecting with movements such as Coalition for the Homeless, Occupy Wall Street, National Coalition for the Homeless, and neighborhood tenant associations in the South Bronx, Harlem, and Lower East Side, Manhattan. Early campaigns intersected with litigation and protests involving entities like the New York City Department of Homeless Services, New York State Assembly, and coalitions around the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act debates, often coordinating with service providers including The Bowery Mission and Covenant House. Over time, the collective developed relationships with academic partners at institutions such as Columbia University, New York University, and Hunter College to produce research informing municipal policy fights over shelter expansion and housing preservation.

Mission and Activities

The collective articulates a mission centered on centering voices of people with lived experience to transform municipal and state policy related to housing, shelter, and public space. Activities have included direct action and protests in coordination with groups like ACT UP, National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, and tenant unions aligned with Tenants & Neighbors and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. The organization also engages with elected officials from offices such as the New York City Council, the Office of the Mayor of New York City, and the New York State Senate to advance legislative changes and budget priorities affecting affordable housing, supportive services, and encampment responses.

Programs and Services

Programs emphasize leadership development, research training, and media production for people experiencing homelessness, often delivered through workshops in partnership with community partners including Urban Justice Center, Legal Aid Society, and neighborhood-based coalitions in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Initiatives have focused on documenting shelter conditions, producing community-driven mapping projects with collaborators such as Pratt Institute, connecting clients to legal resources involving Public Advocate for the City of New York referrals, and supporting campaigns for preservation of affordable housing overseen by agencies like the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the New York City Housing Authority.

Publications and Media

The collective publishes reports, photo essays, and policy briefs that have been cited by journalists at outlets like The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Vox, and Gothamist, and referenced in academic journals associated with Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and NYU Furman Center. Media outputs include collaborative photo exhibits with cultural institutions such as the Museum of the City of New York and community screenings coordinated with organizations like BRIC Arts Media and independent producers linked to Sundance Film Festival circuits. Their research has informed testimony before bodies including New York City Council Committee on Housing and Buildings hearings and briefings with offices of representatives to the United States House of Representatives.

Advocacy and Policy Impact

Advocacy has targeted municipal budgets, shelter system reform, and anti-displacement measures, engaging with policy frameworks like the Right to Shelter litigation and debates over Housing First strategies championed by advocates such as Pathway to Housing. Campaigns have intersected with preservation fights involving nonprofit developers like BRP Companies and with efforts to reform policing of public spaces involving the New York City Police Department (NYPD). The collective has joined coalitions that successfully influenced outcomes on city budget allocations, affordable housing preservation, and tenant protections debated in the New York State Legislature and at hearings convened by the New York City Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity.

Organizational Structure and Funding

The organization operates as a membership-led collective with leadership drawn from unhoused and formerly unhoused members, maintaining partnerships with nonprofit fiscal sponsors, philanthropic funders, and foundation networks including ties to grantmakers such as Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and local funders that support community-based advocacy. Fiscal and programmatic partnerships have included collaborations with legal service organizations like Make the Road New York and research collaborations with university centers such as the Urban Institute and the Center for an Urban Future; revenue streams combine foundation grants, donations, and project-specific contracts.

Criticism and Controversies

Critiques have come from municipal officials, shelter providers, and some neighborhood groups who dispute tactics around encampment advocacy, citing clashes with agencies such as the New York City Department of Sanitation and the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Debates have arisen over priorities between direct service organizations like Covenant House and advocacy-focused groups, and some commentators in outlets such as New York Post and local community boards have contested policy prescriptions promoted by the collective. Legal challenges and public disputes have occasionally involved civil liberties organizations like American Civil Liberties Union affiliates and municipal agencies overseeing public space enforcement.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City