More Than a Museum: How Love, Art, and Community Is Transforming Homelessness

Jessica Turtle was born into a community of homeless people in Cardiff, Wales, set up by her own parents. Her father had spent years sleeping rough on the streets of London. That's where this story begins. But this isn't a story about poverty or pity. It's about love, art, and a community that refuses to be invisible. The Museum of Homelessness in London isn't just a museum. It's a shelter in winter, a gallery, a campaign headquarters, and a home for people society has tried to forget. Jess and her co-founder Matt built something the world told them it didn't want. They were offered a morgue. A closed women's prison. They almost gave up. Then they found a park keeper's lodge in North London and a community that made it their own. In this conversation, we talk about what it really takes to change how the world sees homelessness, why babies are still freezing to death in one of the world's richest cities, and why love, not policy, not charity, might be the most powerful strategy of all. For more information and to support the Museum of Homelessness, visit https://museumofhomelessness.org Their current exhibition, Criminal: An Untold History of Homelessness, Resistance and Survival, is open now. Check the website for dates, hours, and how to visit. 00:00 - Museum Flips the Script: Learning Survival Skills from Homeless People 01:23 - Meet Jessica Turtle, Co-Founder of the Museum of Homelessness London 03:30 - What the Museum Really Is: Community, Shelter, and Education All in One 05:22 - Born Into Homelessness: The Blueprint Behind Museum of Homelessness 07:59 - Breaking Down the Begging Transaction and Reversing Public Perception 10:59 - Finding a Home: The Long Search for the Right Museum Location 15:23 - Why Finsbury Park Was Always Meant to Be the Museum's Forever Home 17:03 - From Museum Worker to Founder: How Jessica's Past Sparked the Vision 19:57 - Children Dying in Temporary Accommodation: The UK Housing Crisis 22:18 - Babies Freezing to Death and the Political Choices Behind It 24:18 - Criminalization of Homelessness Is Growing on Both Sides of the Atlantic 27:14 - Cardboard City and the Bull Ring: London's Hidden Encampment History 33:59 - How Twitter United Rough Sleepers and Changed Homeless Advocacy Forever 36:02 - Grassroots Campaigning That Actually Moves Policy from the Streets Up 38:13 - Dad's Story: Hosing Down Rough Sleepers and Fighting Back Together 41:02 - Community Building Secrets: Resources, Listening, and Sharing Power 44:51 - Tokenized Lived Experience vs. the Power of Current Living Experience 45:55 - Criminal Exhibition: 400 Years of Criminalizing Homelessness Revealed 51:58 - Art as Resistance: Why Beauty and Creativity Change Minds Effectively 53:40 - What Gives Jessica Hope and How to Support the Museum of Homelessness More: From Encampments to Homes: How Dallas Is Solving Homelessness https://youtu.be/iG4afD_ycLk?si=Ka-2mM-rFh2Q14Y6 Radical Acceptance: How Misfits Can Solve the Homeless Crisis https://youtu.be/iY8aL1tV5xw?si=mNeNfG19Olrn84Ds The Shocking Truth About America’s Illegal Drug Trade https://youtu.be/vlb5XhTDXAY?si=WShoD6kE0y3mFPjy Executive producer: Mark Horvath Producer/editor/cinematographer: Alex Gasaway https://www.youtube.com/alexgasaway Associate producer: Erin McGinnis Created by: Alex Gasaway and Erin McGinnis YouTube Podcast https://shorturl.at/XciIu Apple Podcast https://apple.co/4cckQ86 Spotify https://spoti.fi/3XyM98c ================================== Subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/c/invisiblepeople?sub_confirmation=1 Invisible People’s website: http://invisiblepeople.tv Support Invisible People: https://invisiblepeople.tv/donate Sign up for our newsletter: https://invisiblepeople.tv/email Invisible People’s Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/invisiblepeople https://twitter.com/invisiblepeople https://www.instagram.com/invisiblepeople https://www.facebook.com/invisiblepeopletv https://www.tiktok.com/@invisiblepeopletv About Invisible People There is a direct correlation between what the general public perceives about homelessness and how it affects policy change. Most people blame homelessness on the person experiencing it instead of the increasing shortage of affordable housing, lack of employment, childhood trauma, lack of a living wage, or the countless reasons that put a person at risk. This lack of understanding creates a dangerous cycle of misperception that leads to the inability to effectively address the root causes of homelessness. We imagine a world where everyone has a place to call home. Each day, we work to fight homelessness by giving it a face while educating individuals about the systemic issues that contribute to its existence. Through storytelling, education, news, and activism, we are changing the narrative on homelessness.