Ireland’s ‘Hidden Homeless’ are people and families in Hotels and B&Bs, made homeless by hikes in private sector rents and also people making do with cold, damp and poor quality rental units or ‘sofa surfing’ in the homes of friends or extended family. Our campaign aimed to highlight their plight and draw attention to SVP’s concern at the housing and homeless crisis and the lack of social housing in Ireland. We worked together with SVP to transform one of their city centre stores into a temporary estate agency. DAS Property was designed using an inverted SVP logo and the organisation’s existing brand colours which leant themselves very well to the execution. In the window of the store we showcased properties that the Hidden Homeless are forced to inhabit with eye-catching photography and thought-provoking descriptions. During the days it was live we had volunteers positioned outside the store to give the public further information about the issue and offering them the opportunity to lend their voice to the cause by signing our petition. We witnessed people from all aspects of society interact with the activation and ask questions. We talked to numerous people who said they had experience of the types of accommodation we were showcasing and even more who were horrified that this issue wasn’t attracting more attention. The storefront was live for a number of days and over that time we were also gained coverage across many earned media sites such as TheJournal.ie, Broadsheet, Joe.ie and various radio stations. This helped us to get the public talking about the issue and meant that SVP exceeded their target for signatures on their petition and let the public know that they are working hard for those who are suffering.
