Picture the Homeless

Picture the Homeless (PTH) is an American nonprofit organization founded in New York City in 1999 by Lewis Haggins and Anthony Williams. Its work is centered on organizing people who are homeless or have experienced homelessness so that they can influence the public policies and institutions governing housing, homelessness, policing, and broader social justice issues. Rather than treating homelessness only as an individual social-service problem, the organization presents it as a human-rights and structural issue requiring changes in land use, public spending, housing policy, law enforcement, and political representation. A defining feature of PTH is its emphasis on leadership by homeless people themselves. The organization seeks to develop members as advocates, researchers, organizers, and public spokespeople, while creating a place for homeless people and their policy priorities within the wider social-justice movement. Its campaigns have included opposition to police brutality, civil-rights advocacy, efforts to expand affordable housing, and actions involving vacant buildings and lots. PTH has also argued that public resources currently devoted to the shelter system should be redirected toward permanent housing and community-controlled alternatives, including community land trusts. The group has influenced debate about New York City's use of vacant property and its response to homelessness. In 2011, PTH worked with the Hunter College Center for Community Development to conduct a count of vacant buildings. Their findings were published in Banking on Vacancy, a report arguing that city-owned vacant buildings could provide housing for the city's homeless population. PTH later helped establish the New York City Community Land Initiative with the New Economy Project and other organizations. The coalition promoted community land trusts and other approaches intended to place housing under long-term community control. PTH has also examined the institutions and incentives surrounding homelessness. In 2018 it published The Business of Homelessness, a report examining how government policy, nonprofit practices, and business interests could contribute to the continuation of homelessness rather than its resolution. The organization has used research, direct action, public protest, coalition building, and legal or civil-rights advocacy as complementary tools. Its international work has included exchanges with homeless and social-justice organizers abroad. In 2009, four PTH members traveled to Budapest, Hungary, to present the organization's experience and exchange strategies with local activists. The exchange contributed to the formation of A Város Mindenkié, translated as The City is For All, Hungary's first homeless-led advocacy organization. PTH is therefore best understood not as a conventional service provider or commercial brand, but as a grassroots advocacy organization whose identity is built around homeless-led organizing and systemic reform.

Picture the Homeless was established in New York City in 1999 by Lewis Haggins and Anthony Williams. From its beginning, the organization was designed as a homeless person-led advocacy group rather than a conventional charity operating primarily through services delivered to homeless people. Its organizing model holds that people directly affected by homelessness should develop the leadership, analysis, and collective power needed to change the systems shaping their lives. The organization's agenda has combined housing advocacy with civil-rights work. PTH has campaigned against police brutality and participated in broader protests and legal or court-related advocacy concerning the treatment of homeless people. In housing, it has maintained that housing is a human right and has challenged policies that leave people in shelters or on the street while public land and buildings remain unused. Its direct actions have included occupying buildings and vacant lots, alongside coalition work and public policy research. A significant phase of PTH's work involved documenting vacant property in New York City. In 2011, the organization collaborated with the Hunter College Center for Community Development on a count of vacant buildings. The resulting Banking on Vacancy report argued that the city possessed enough buildings to provide housing for its homeless population. This work connected grassroots organizing with an evidence-based challenge to official assumptions about scarcity and shelter policy. PTH has advocated moving public resources away from dependence on the shelter system and toward permanent, community-controlled housing. It helped form the New York City Community Land Initiative with the New Economy Project and other groups. The initiative promoted community land trusts as a mechanism for keeping land and housing affordable and accountable to communities over the long term. The organization also broadened its critique to include the institutional economy surrounding homelessness. Its 2018 report The Business of Homelessness examined the ways government policies, nonprofit organizations, and businesses could operate in ways that maintained homelessness or failed to address its structural causes. The report reflected PTH's broader approach: research and public education were used not as substitutes for organizing, but as tools for strengthening campaigns and changing public debate. PTH developed international links through movement-to-movement exchange. In 2009, four members went to Budapest, Hungary, to share experiences with homeless and other activists. The exchange contributed to the establishment of A Város Mindenkié, or The City is For All, described as Hungary's first homeless-led advocacy organization. By the late 2010s, PTH had gained recognition as an influential New York City advocacy organization founded and led by people experiencing or having experienced homelessness. Its historical significance lies in its insistence that homeless people be political actors and decision-makers, its use of organizing and direct action to challenge housing and policing systems, and its effort to connect local campaigns with wider movements for community land control and social justice.

• 2018

  The Business of Homelessness report

  [1]Picture the Homelessen.wikipedia.org

  PTH published a report analyzing how policy, nonprofit, and business practices could contribute to the persistence of homelessness.

• 2011

  Banking on Vacancy research

  [1]Picture the Homelessen.wikipedia.org

  PTH and the Hunter College Center for Community Development counted vacant buildings and published findings arguing that city-owned buildings could help house homeless New Yorkers.

• 2009

  Budapest movement exchange

  [1]Picture the Homelessen.wikipedia.org

  Four members traveled to Budapest to exchange organizing experience with homeless and other activists, contributing to the formation of A Város Mindenkié.

• 1999

  Organization founded

  [1]Picture the Homelessen.wikipedia.org

  Lewis Haggins and Anthony Williams founded Picture the Homeless in New York City as a homeless person-led rights and organizing organization.

A homeless person-led movement organization focused on housing as a human right, community control of land and housing, police accountability, and systemic change rather than solely on emergency services.

• Research report · 2011

  Banking on Vacancy

  A 2011 report produced with the Hunter College Center for Community Development. It documented vacant buildings in New York City and argued that city-owned vacant property could provide housing for people experiencing homelessness, challenging the assumption that the city lacked sufficient housing resources.

• Research report · 2018

  The Business of Homelessness

  A 2018 report examining the relationships among public policy, nonprofit institutions, business interests, and the continued existence of homelessness. It presents homelessness as a systemic issue rather than solely an emergency-service or individual-behavior problem.

• 2009International homeless-led organizing exchange

  United States · Hungary

  PTH members traveled to Budapest to present their New York organizing experience and exchange strategies with local activists.

  Outcome. The exchange contributed to the founding of A Város Mindenkié, described as Hungary's first homeless-led advocacy organization.

  Source
• Housing as a human right

  New York City

  PTH campaigns for affordable and permanent housing and challenges policies that rely on shelter while leaving vacant buildings and lots unused. Its methods have included organizing, public advocacy, coalition work, and occupations of buildings or vacant lots.

  Source
• Community land trusts and the New York City Community Land Initiative

  New York City

  PTH helped establish the New York City Community Land Initiative with the New Economy Project and other organizations. The coalition promotes redirecting public resources toward community land trusts and other forms of community-controlled housing.

  Source
• Civil-rights and police-accountability advocacy

  New York City

  The organization has participated in campaigns, protests, and court-related advocacy focused on police brutality and the civil rights of homeless people.

  Source

• 2018

  Analyze the institutional drivers of homelessnessStrategy

  Background

  PTH argued that homelessness could be perpetuated by interacting government, nonprofit, and commercial practices.

  Action taken

  It published The Business of Homelessness to examine those relationships and broaden public discussion beyond emergency shelter provision.

  Source

• 2011

  Use vacant-property research to challenge shelter-centered policyStrategy

  Background

  PTH argued that New York City held vacant buildings that could be used to house people experiencing homelessness.

  Action taken

  It partnered with the Hunter College Center for Community Development to count vacant buildings and publish Banking on Vacancy.

  Aftermath

  The report became part of PTH's advocacy for permanent housing and a redirection of public resources away from dependence on the shelter system.

  Source

• Promote community land trusts as a housing alternativeStrategy

  Background

  PTH criticized the concentration of public resources in the shelter system and sought approaches that could provide lasting, community-controlled housing.

  Action taken

  The organization helped create the New York City Community Land Initiative with the New Economy Project and other groups.

  Aftermath

  The initiative provided a coalition framework for advocating community land trusts and related models of long-term housing affordability and community control.

  Source

1. 1Picture the Homelessen.wikipedia.org