A different lens on people facing homelessness
| Ithaca, N.Y.
It鈥檚 a sprightly 41-degree morning in Ithaca, and Mark Horvath gets his camera rolling. Carmen Guidi, a local advocate for people facing homelessness in this picturesque corner of upstate New York, is upset about a coming reality for residents of the encampment that he and Mr. Horvath are about to enter. Construction plans, Mr. Guidi says, mean that a 15-acre chunk of the site, dubbed The Jungle, is about to become off-limits, and as many as 10 encampments will have to be moved.聽
鈥淭he mayor has asked me to be on a task force to figure out what we can do to help the people,鈥� Mr. Guidi says.
鈥淗ousing!鈥� Mr. Horvath interjects.
Why We Wrote This
One former TV executive found a way to make people see what they usually don鈥檛: the 鈥榠nvisible鈥� people on the streets. Mark Horvath's videos have reached hundreds of thousands of viewers and sparked local volunteering efforts.
Here begins one of the latest mini-documentaries produced by Mr. Horvath for the social media project he started 11 years ago: Invisible People. It鈥檚 a mobile nonprofit driven by one man, his backpack, and a small, hand-held video camera, and its mission is captured in the terse line greeting visitors to the website : 鈥淐hanging the story of homelessness.鈥�
Indeed, these documentaries aim to give a close-up, unfiltered view of homelessness to help people better understand the challenge. The stories told by real people living on the streets, recorded by Mr. Horvath and others, can be raw and harrowing.聽
鈥淥ur inability to relate to homelessness is our biggest obstacle to ending it,鈥� he notes.
On the streets himself
Mr. Horvath knows intimately the perilous predicament of homelessness. Once a high-flying Los Angeles TV executive, he ended up on Hollywood Boulevard amid spiraling drug addiction. Over time, he was able to rebuild his life, eventually landing a marketing job and buying a house. But after the economic collapse in 2008, he again lost everything, almost landing back on the streets. Instead, however, he started making videos of homelessness as he understood it.
Mr. Horvath has filmed in cities across the United States and Canada, and he鈥檚 traveled to nine countries for speaking engagements. While on the road, he often attempts to capture a vignette of local homelessness. To increase the number of stories on the Invisible People website, he is also working with a string of journalists around the world.
As Mr. Horvath sees it, 鈥淭here was no place for kids to go online to learn about homelessness except some academic website where they have to download a 46-page PDF or fundraising materials. So I created one.鈥�
For years, he says, Invisible People had about 20,000 YouTube subscribers, and it struggled to attract donors and philanthropists. But following a few tweaks to the project鈥檚 online presentation, the funding started coming, and the number of subscribers now stands at more than 250,000.聽
But statistics are one thing. Mr. Horvath wants his videos to spark action.聽
Just two days before Mr. Horvath and Mr. Guidi鈥檚 visit to The Jungle, Julia Schellenberg and Ryan Cleare were watching videos on YouTube and stumbled upon an Invisible People film. 鈥淚t was [a video] in another city,鈥� Ms. Schellenberg says. 鈥淭hen ... I saw there was one in Ithaca, so I watched it.鈥� That led the young couple to Mr. Guidi, who informed them about a group of volunteers who would be distributing supplies 鈥� primarily heaters and propane tanks 鈥� to the hardy band of Jungle residents braving the cold temperatures. That鈥檚 when Mr. Horvath and his camera showed up, bringing the Invisible People message full circle.聽
鈥淲ork like this 鈥� it鈥檚 so important, telling people鈥檚 stories,鈥� Ms. Schellenberg says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e here.鈥�
Putting 鈥榓 human face on it鈥�
They鈥檙e not the only tangible evidence of the impact of Mr. Horvath鈥檚 films. Mr. Guidi points to a spot in the woods where a couple called T.J. and Ally stayed a year ago after losing their jobs. Mr. Horvath did a story on them, which prompted others to come forward with help.聽
鈥淭wo months later, they were housed because of the work he did,鈥� Mr. Guidi says. 鈥淚t works, brings awareness to the problem, puts a human face on it.鈥�
Mr. Horvath, in turn, points to Mr. Guidi鈥檚 work as the kind of grassroots action he wants to inspire. Mr. Guidi, a body shop owner, established a small community of tiny homes called Second Wind Cottages behind his business to house people from places like The Jungle.
Ithaca might not be the first kind of place people think of when it comes to homelessness, but the issue can be acute. 鈥淩ural homelessness can often be more challenging because there is not the social services support urban areas have,鈥� Mr. Horvath says. Home to Ithaca College and the prestigious Cornell University, the city is experiencing economic growth. But affordable housing is increasingly scarce.
Deb Wilke, another local volunteer in Mr. Horvath鈥檚 orbit, explains how a sum of about $3,500 was generated mostly from college students in town. 鈥淚t was super cold,鈥� Ms. Wilke says, and she describes the students as saying among themselves, 鈥淐an you imagine living outside? We are complaining about walking to class.鈥�
