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'Homeless Hotspots' from the ground level
The "Homeless Hotspots" program unveiled at South by Southwest has ignited both outrage and support. But participants in the Front Steps homeless shelter say it's a beneficial program.
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Kai Ryssdal: We did a story yesterday that caught a lot of people's ears, about something happening at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin this week. Homeless Hotspot is the headline. Homeless people in Austin acting as wireless Internet hotspots -- selling Wi-Fi access and getting to keep the money.
As often happens, there was way more to the story than met the ear, which we learned by talking to the guy who thought up the idea. Today, one of the men who was part of it. Dusty White's been living at a homeless shelter in Austin for about a month now. Mr. White, good to have you with us.
Dusty White: It's a pleasure.
Ryssdal: So tell me what you think about this program? When they came to the shelter and said listen, we've got this idea for Homeless Hotspots, what'd you think?
White: I thought it was an excellent program. It gave me a little bit of recognition and not only that, it was a positive attitude interacting with people.
Ryssdal: So tell me how it works in practice? You're walking around Austin, whatever you're doing, and somebody sees your T-shirt and they've got a laptop and they say, 'Hey man, I need some Wi-Fi.' Is that how it works?
White: That's correct, yes sir. I carry a device. What I was was just really a human satellite Wi-Fi. And we helped out quite a bit.
Ryssdal: How's it working for you? Are you making money out of this thing?
White: Yes sir. I'm a people person. I like to interact. I've always been in some kind of communication. It was very nice interacting with a lot of people. I've met people from Denmark. I've met people from Germany, England, London.
Ryssdal: You've had a lot of business then?
White: Oh, I have had a lot of business and promotion was our shirts. I don't know if you've seen our shirts or whatever?
Ryssdal: I've seen pictures, yeah.
White: Yes sir. That's where a lot of people were kind of curious. They were very intrigued by it. At first they were very hesitant, but once you started talking to them, explaining your situation, explaining what we were doing, they took the time to talk to us.
Ryssdal: And the thing that got us actually was the T-shirts and the headlines that you saw yesterday about 'Oh my god, they're turning homeless people in Austin into Wi-Fi hotspots.' And it seemed a little -- you're chuckling -- it was a little bit wow. Really?
White: Well, you've got to understand. A lot of these guys here at this shelter at this point and time, or this homeless situation, are educated people. I used to think they were bums or they were too lazy to work or they was some kind of mental issue. Now I've seen a different outlook in the homeless population. This is all new to me. I've been homeless for about a month and a half in my life. And it's not what you achieve in life, sir, it's what you overcome.
Ryssdal: So did the mainstream media get it wrong yesterday with 'Oh my god, this is horrible, look what they're doing?' Did we blow that?
White: Yes sir. I feel like that that was... yes sir. I do. All the persons that participate in this program here at the Front Steps program.
Ryssdal: Yeah. Front Steps is the shelter. Right?
White: That's correct. Yes sir. Every one of 'em enjoyed it and they're still talking about it and they would do it again.
Ryssdal: Dusty White, thanks very much for your time, sir.
White: Thank you very much, sir.
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"It's not what you achieve in life, sir, it's what you overcome."
Wow. What a great takeaway from this whole story. I donated to Mr. White just now and encourage others to do the same. http://homelesshotspots.org
To Marketplace: GREAT job adding balance and giving voice to those directly involved, including BBH in the earlier interview. Kudos for your direct questioning and follow-through. If we can come away from this with a little inspiration such as that offered by Mr. White, then there's at least one positive benefit beyond the project's goals. Another takeaway would be lessons in PR, which I detail at my blog with links to Marketplace's coverage at: http://rsmithing.com/2012/03/12/homeless-hotspots-what-could-go-wrong/ I welcome any comments there from a PR perspective.
Thanks again for providing relevant, important coverage with impact.
Wonderful, so happy to see that Marketplace decided to listen to viewpoints from across the aisle. Also, kudos to Kai for asking if the mainstream media "blew it" with their premature reporting - premature in that it was done before anyone even thought about interviewing an actual participant like Mr. White.
Also here to say thanks for the followup. I think Kai hit it 100% when he asked - asking one of the only actual people that had any right to be outraged, mind you - whether or not the media should have reacted as they did.
I was also extremely glad to hear Dusty handle that question like a gentleman and with the gratitude and entrepreneurial spirit that permeate this program.
My Great Grandfather often pointed out the difference between the unemployed of his day (great depression) and those of today (the 1980's then). In his day every person was wearing a suit that had been pressed and a hat if they were a male. Every photo i've seen of that era shows that, crisp seams, clean shaved, and clean cloths. He also said every man was respectful of anyone he talked to with Yes Sir or No Sir.
Mr. White brought to my mind those comments with his very respectful conversation with Mr. Ryssdal. This is a very rare thing to find among anyone today and it makes me wish I could give Mr. White a job because I know he is very likely to work well with others.
The biggest problem here is a problem of branding. You can compare Homeless Hotspots, as Saneel did in the previous story, to the concept of street newspapers to a point. But there's one very significant difference. They're not called "homeless" newspapers. They're not called Homeless Weekly or the Indigent Tribune. They're called things like The Challenger (Austin) or Real Change (Seattle). Their names have significance and meaning to the community they're supporting. They don't have to shout, "Hey, I'm homeless! Look at me!" on the front page. It is clear that the program is attempting to promote discussion about homelessness and that it's not trying to take advantage of those who took part. However, I'm certain there's someone at Front Steps shelter who decided not to take part, because they didn't want to wear a T-shirt that proclaimed "I'm homeless" on the front. They might have even felt sick at the thought. Is that person feeling even further marginalized? If those who came up with the name "Homeless Hotspots" did so just to get people's attention, just to spark debate, or just to land their program here on Marketplace, I think that's fairly mean-spirited and defeats the very purpose they're trying to achieve. It's at the expense of those that are the most vulnerable.
I completely disagree with Calamitous1's assessment. How better to demonstrate that homeless people are just that: people like the rest of us who happen to be homeless at this point in time. People who can be intelligent, friendly, trustworthy, and entrepreneurial. People we don't need to automatically pity, fear, or dismiss. The branding is terrific: clever title, walking billboards (the shirts), great target audience (the festival), and participants willing to put themselves out there as living examples that life doesn't end because one is homeless. Why shouldn't they get attention and spark debate? Sure, some are vulnerable, but the ones participating in Homeless Hotspots evidently are stronger than that, and we need to pay attention and know that.
Thanks to Marketplace for getting this right, and to Front Steps for making this ingenious idea work.
THANK YOU. For doing a follow-up story on this. I'll just reiterate here what I said on the previous story...
As someone who interacted with these guys down at the Austin convention center, I didn't see it as exploitative at all. The guys who were participating seemed to be genuinely pumped to do so, and they were thoroughly charming. In my view, it helped to raise the profile of the homeless, and I was inspired to donate to Clarence the Homeless Hotspot through http://homelesshotspots.com, which claims to give all the proceeds to Clarence himself. From my perspective, begging makes both parties uncomfortable, but standing on the street and offering a legitimate service seems to build some mutual respect into the equation.
