This short PSA asks viewers to support the construction of low income housing in the Vancouver area, and, indirectly, to reject movements intended to drive the homeless elsewhere. It came about after I noticed that I’d seen several news stories on the issue of Vancouver and Portland’s homelessness problem, many of which featured interviews with city authorities who all seemed to promise solutions in the form of stricter enforcement of loitering laws, the relocating of homeless camps, and generally sweeping the problem under the carpet instead of dealing with the underlying issues: the competitive job market (a national issue) and the lack of affordable housing (an issue near and dear to Vancouver, which boasts one of the worst markets for affordable housing in the country).

I was appalled at the idea that our political leaders were thinking of the problem in the context of “how do we get these homeless people out of our city,” rather than “how do we get these homeless people homes.” This short PSA satirizes this attitude by turning this metaphorical “sweep it under the rug” stance into a literal visualization using simple, recognizable icons. It points out just how ridiculous this “solution” looks in practice and drives home the point that thinking this way is no different from treating the homeless like litter to be swept away. My hope is that some of the people thinking of the issue this way will see this PSA and reconsider the way they have been approaching the problem.