Animated short offers intimate view into pandemic's homelessness disaster — and how to do better next time

While the impacts of COVID-19 have been felt across society, there’s one often neglected group that researchers are hoping to shine a light on: the homeless population.

You are pretty much on your own: The two disasters of homelessness and the pandemic, an animated short produced by a team of researchers at Dalhousie and Cape Breton University, explores the experience of the homeless sector during the COVID era.  

“This is a story about a group of people who tend to be forgotten a lot,” says Jeff Karabanow, a professor and associate director of Dal’s School of Social Work, in the introduction to the animated video (available to watch at the bottom of this article).

An intimate view into homelessness

Karabanow, who has been researching homelessness for the last 25 years, and his team received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to study what homelessness looks like during a disaster.  

“I had an intimate view of what was going on, and I really wanted to share that with the public,” says Dr. Karabanow, who also works with local shelter organizations in Halifax. “We wanted to document some of the issues and also to build somewhat of a roadmap for the next time we have a disaster.”

The study looked at the experiences of the homeless population in both Halifax Regional Municipality and the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. The researchers took their findings and turned it into an animated short with the help of illustrator Shannon Long.

Capturing a feeling

The short describes the challenges faced by service providers trying to help people while also facing public health restrictions.  

“This particular animated short is a useful tool for providing a kind of emotive quality and feel to a topic that is pretty harsh,” says Dr. Karabanow. “A lot of people you know probably wouldn’t be looking at academic articles or government reports to explore what was going on.”

“We wanted to capture a feeling and be able to engage a wide group of people. I think art is a perfect means for doing that.”

The team spent about five months working with Long to complete the animation to capture the story.

Dealing with a disaster together

Looking to the future, Dr. Karabanow hopes policymakers embrace some of the new ways of thinking highlighted in the video, especially collaboration with community partners and viewing homeless as a social determinant of health.

“COVID allowed a big opening for taking a bit of risk and thinking outside the box. I think those two dynamics really allowed for some really interesting and novel initiatives to emerge,” says Dr. Karabanow.

“There’s too many people who feel extremely unsafe being unhoused and unsupported. There are numerous initiatives emerging right now.”

At the same time, Dr. Karabanow acknowledges that even with emerging initiatives regarding harm reduction and housing options, there are still people suffering on the streets, a crisis compounded by the pandemic.

Ask an expert: Jeff Karabanow on how the pandemic affected the homeless and those trying to help them

Watch the full short below