Approach
Housing sits at the center of a web of interconnected, deeply personal experiences and values: family, community, racial justice, financial stability, the American Dream. It’s an emotionally and politically complex issue, which makes it especially challenging to shift attitudes and move policy.
M+R worked with a coalition of Bay Area housing advocates anchored by Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California. Every aspect of this work was informed by careful study of polling, surveys, and audience research. Through webinars, videos, printed messaging guides, a comprehensive website, and other tools, we transformed those findings into actionable, effective, audience-specific messaging.
The COVID pandemic began in the midst of our initial phase of work exploring questions of housing justice. The people who faced disproportionate risk from the disease — BIPOC and lower-income communities — were the same people who face higher rates of housing instability. It’s never been more clear that housing justice is a racial justice issue, a health equity issue, and an economic justice issue.
We quickly adjusted our priorities and planning to provide immediate messaging support to coalition members. We found ways to contextualize housing justice within these broader concerns, including a reporter roundtable designed to connect advocates directly with reporters, and to help reporters understand how to talk and write about housing justice.