I don’t enjoy being here - trust me

This interview was first published in The Prisma Multicultural Newspaper, where it can be read in full with images, here:

https://theprisma.co.uk/2024/12/09/i-dont-enjoy-being-here-trust-me/

A social stigma persists which views people in a situation of homelessness as social parasites or hopeless victims of addiction. Recognizing the human potential of marginalized people instead of seeing them as a criminal problem has been shown to be effective. But European decision-makers refuse to implement it.

In the film one innovative approach is shown from the inside, but it ended when the Covid pandemic subsided. The film directors saw that a new vision based on trust and seeing people as individuals with potential was effective, and in the same way that Portugal is widely recognized as a successful innovator in the treatment of drug dependency, so people in situations of homelessness can also be helped by dropping the punitive reflex.

A main goal of the Housing First programme is for re-housed homeless people to be integrated in the local community where they live. Previous approaches considered homeless people to be in need of preparation before being re-housed, Housing First begins with re-housing and it has proved very successful. This is part of a vision that emphasizes not the homeless individual but the social situation of the existence of homelessness.

This is not the only approach and handing money directly to homeless people also caught the interest of one of the filmmakers, for its potential to empowerment and reducing money wasted on outdated approaches.

The Prisma continued its conversation with Dorian Riviere and Zsofi Paczolay, directors of "I am here''.