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Alexander Boesch, a junior at Menlo School in Atherton, is spreading awareness about homelessness through a video project called Homeless Horizons.
Boesch first started the project at his school’s Community Action Summer Experience program, where Menlo School students research a social issue that matters to them.
From that program came a mini-documentary where Boesch interviewed houseless individuals, city officials and nonprofits. Now, Boesch is working to expand the project into a full length documentary.
Boesch believes that he can help reverse the stigma against homeless people through giving them a voice.
“Oftentimes we have a negative stigma about homeless people, but after having conversations with some of them, I realized that the stories are very fascinating,” he said. “They are just community members trying to live their life in the best way possible.”
Boesh says that the medium of documentaries will allow audiences to digest information more easily and become more informed about homelessness.
“I’m trying to look at it through a different lens, and really focus on gaining diverse perspectives from everybody in the community,” Boesch said.
One of the biggest obstacles to housing the homeless is the lack of housing and the difficulty in getting affordable projects built. California is currently short by about 1 million units of housing affordable to very low income households, according to Dr. Margot Kushel, director of UCSF’s Benioff Housing and Homelessness Initiative. Affordable housing projects face a range of obstacles, including opposition from neighbors or city governments.
“Many people in the communities are against these affordable homes, some people say there are safety issues, others say it will depreciate their home value.” Boesch said.
Boesh said he thinks that his documentary will be very impactful. “I hope that many people can resonate to it and change their perspective or learn something new on the issue.”
See his project at homelesshorizons.org.
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