Rehousing Los Angeles
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is the lead agency responsible for the coordination of the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. The goal of the count is to identify important trends, key demographics, and location information to determine what's working, what needs to be done, and where we're falling short. This is the largest homeless census count in the nation and the data is used to educate practitioners, providers, politicians, and the public–all in service to end homelessness in Los Angeles. We partnered with LAHSA to provide message framing, help bring the numbers to life, and create a narrative of storytelling to give context and meaning to a real-time crisis.
Data-centric information is by its nature impersonal, sterile, daunting, and lacks human context. We set out to ensure that we spent time highlighting the people behind the numbers–volunteers and frontline supporters with lived experience–to contextualize the data, bring humanity into frame and communicate in simple and relatable ways.
Humanizing the Homeless Count
01—The brand
A warmer take on the identity
LAHSA has an established and reputable brand, but it lacks the warmth and humanity that this campaign called for. As a part of telling the stories of LA’s frontline support, we expanded the brand guidelines for a more approachable presentation.
02—The website
Not heroism, hard work
The website worked to connect the homeless count to the progress and impact on the ground through diverse multimedia offerings, engaging photography, and simplified data visualizations. Connecting sterile numbers to stories of neighbors on the streets and colleagues in the field.
Stories of the movement — To help humanize the efforts, we told the stories of five folks with varying degrees of lived experience and roles in the crisis—pairing audio stories with pull quotes and photography for a truly immersive experience.
Simplifying complex data — By connecting the complex numbers being released with simplified visuals, we were able to make the report more approachable.
03—The campaign
A little help from our friends
We created a series of ads based on the personal stories of the five frontline service providers featured on the landing page to boost public understanding of the 2022 homeless count results. By utilizing LAHSA partner ad accounts including HOPICS, St. Joseph’s, and Union Station Homeless Services, we were able to engage in the community in an authentic way and use these trusted service providers as the messenger while also promoting the organizations themselves.
Digital ads — Balancing story and data, we assembled an ad campaign that was both informative and optimistic.
04—The Impact
Changing the narrative
The primary objective of the campaign was to change the data-centric narrative around the homeless count by driving traffic to the Homeless Count 2022 Report landing page, resulting in increased education on the meaning behind the statistics and the rehousing system in general.
Through our robust ad campaign, we reached nearly one million people in Los Angeles at a critical moment to emphasize progress and optimism over cynicism and apathy. And more than 5,000 people visited the site to learn about the efforts service providers are taking to help those experiencing homelessness.
Storytelling is a powerful tool, and we feel honored to have been trusted with raising up the people behind the point-in-time numbers.
The team
Work created while at Swell Inc
Creative direction
Greg Hubacek
Christian Gilbert
Design
Josie Allison
Christian Gilbert
Development
Andrew Garcia
Andres Cruz
Photography & Video
Noe Montez
Human Interest Films
Writing
Selena Baugh
Strategy
Sara St. Hilaire
Britni Soto
Larke Paul