Home Truths: Localising homelessness messaging
In 2025, it feels like there are more myths about homelessness than ever before. Social media makes it easy for misinformation to spread — and because homelessness is an emotive subject that touches people’s fears and sense of fairness, those myths grow quickly.
We hear the same claims again and again:
“People choose homelessness.”
“There’s plenty of housing if they bothered saving up.”
“It’s all about addiction.”
“Homelessness will always exist. It can’t be solved.”
“I’m not supporting housing projects, they all go to illegal immigrants.”
Many people who share those ideas aren’t bad or unkind. They’re responding to stories that are simple, familiar and fit their worldview. When something feels true, emotion beats evidence almost every time.
So how can local charities communicate clearly in this climate?
Bring the story home
Telling people that homelessness is complex and has many drivers might be accurate, but it rarely changes minds. The world of policy and national statistics feels distant from their lives. It’s too high-level to picture and too vague to accept as real.
What breaks through is local truth.
If you tell someone that in their own town, the biggest causes of homelessness right now are, say, eviction by friends or family, eviction by private landlords, and domestic abuse (as in my hometown of Chelmsford), you’ve already changed the frame. Suddenly, it’s not an abstract crisis, it’s something that happens to people like them, in streets they know.
Evidence increasingly shows this works. A 2024 study by the Nuffield Foundation found that people rated local government communications as far more trustworthy and relevant than national messaging, largely because they could see themselves and their communities reflected in it. When residents understood how an issue affected their own area, they were also more likely to act or share accurate information.
Similarly, LGA research on place-based approaches notes that engagement improves when councils and partners communicate “in the language of place,” using recognisable landmarks, local examples and people’s own sense of belonging. These communications are perceived as more authentic, and more likely to build civic trust over time.
Charities working in a specific place already understand this instinctively, but there’s evidence too. Carnegie UK’s Talk of the Town project found that when communities tell their own stories about their place, it strengthens trust and belonging, and helps people see local challenges as shared and solvable.
Use emotion, but with care
Misinformation spreads through emotion, but so does compassion. You can use storytelling to rebuild trust where needed, as long as you stay authentic and transparent.
A human story told honestly about someone helped back into housing, or supported to leave an unsafe home, carries more weight than any national statistic. It makes the problem visible and relatable. It also presents the issue as solvable - and if you want to know why that’s important, take a look at FrameWorks UK’s excellent work on talking about housing.
Emotion alone can be risky if it’s not grounded in place. Studies from the University of Sheffield on “local narratives of resilience” found that people are more likely to empathise when stories show real, nearby consequences and local responses, rather than abstract national appeals. In short, proximity builds empathy. The more local and specific the story, the stronger its impact.
Equip your supporters to share facts that feel true
Local trust spreads the same way local misinformation does, from person to person and in community Facebook groups. How can you help it along?
People are more likely to believe, and repeat, information that comes from someone like them.
That means your staff, volunteers and service users are powerful advocates. Show human faces, let your messages come from a messenger people can relate to.Charity-sector research consistently shows that people trust local and community-based organisations more than national bodies. The Charity Commission’s Trust in Charities survey found that smaller, locally rooted charities are seen as closer to people’s real lives. That trust is what allows them to cut through confusion and misinformation.
Give them clear, accurate messages they can pass on in conversation or online. Help people to talk confidently about what homelessness looks like in your area and how your organisation is addressing it.
Use plain, conversational language: instead of “delivering holistic wraparound services to vulnerable cohorts,” say, “working with people in our town who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads.”
Show the work you’re doing, but don’t make it about you. Instead of saying, “Our team helped 182 families this year,” say, “182 people in this city almost became homeless this year. Together, we helped them stay in their homes”.
Keep showing what “home” means
Charities working in housing or homelessness already know the value of home: safety, dignity, belonging, a decent foundation for life. The challenge is to communicate that meaning in ways that connect with people’s everyday experience of their place.
Misinformation thrives on distance. Place-based storytelling closes that distance.
Entangled Creative helps charities and community organisations communicate clearly, confidently and with local character, especially when the conversation feels complex or emotive.