London’s Museum of Homelessness, which aims to fight stigma and spread awareness of the challenges faced by homeless people, is getting a permanent location in Finsbury Park. Ironically, the museum has struggled to find a permanent home in the seven years it’s been running, but now it’s going to be settled at Manor House Lodge in Finsbury Park.
The museum is run by married couple Jess and Matt Turtle. It’s the world’s only museum about homelessness, and everyone who works at the museum has some experience of rough sleeping, or is homeless themselves.
‘Our aim is to tackle the stigma and biases around homelessness,’ said Matt. ‘You can only really do that if you are educating on it through the museum but also trying to tackle the things that are happening at the same time. We are involved with a lot of campaigning work as well.
‘We don’t aim to eliminate all homelessness, that’s a huge project, but we want to provide input and help where we can.’
The new museum will open in the spring of 2023. It will primarily be used as a space for workshops, talks and performances about homelessness, as well as storing archive items.
Matt Turtle explained that Finsbury Park could be an area where there is a lot of hidden homelessness, meaning that the issue doesn’t just include people who sleep rough on the street, but also those who live in emergency accommodation. The museum will provide 250 support sessions for people without permanent homes in the area every year.
Find more info on the Museum of Homelessness here.
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