A nonprofit in Mississippi is using board games and role-playing games to raise awareness about what it’s actually like to experience homelessness.
Brandi Herrington — the executive director of community nonprofit Starkville Strong — worked with college students at Mississippi State to develop a “true to life” board game called “Housing Hustle.”
“When I did a presentation for the students about our organization, there was a big information gap on the struggles and the different variables that lead to homelessness and being displaced,” Herrington told Good Good Good.
“After that conversation, we met throughout an entire semester. They developed a board game idea and we fleshed it out.”
In Housing Hustle, which is similar to The Game of Life, players encounter the good (a work bonus!) and bad (expensive car repairs) of daily living as they navigate the board.
“It's a board game in which you roll the dice, you move forward, and you pick up cards — some which are trivia about homelessness and some which are life events that affect your gameplay,” Herrington said.
To win Housing Hustle, players must race against the clock to find permanent housing.
“What we see happening is that, every single time, the winning player has a really large extendable income,” Herrington said. “And everyone else who's on living wage or minimum wage does not finish in time.”
First created in 2022, Housing Hustle is still a crucial educational resource for the nonprofit. Throughout the year, Starkville Strong regularly brings it out for their immersive “Homeless Experience” days.
Another game that Starkville Strong hosts is the Homeless Experience Simulation, a role-playing game which challenges players to find a job and secure housing in a room that simulates a small town.
“We give participants personas and stories, and at the start of the simulation, they're homeless,” Herrington said. “There are tables set up around the room with different resources, like government assistance, and employment opportunities.”
Based on a player’s randomly assigned persona, they’re either given an ID or forced to start from scratch.
“The first whammy that most of our clients deal with is that in order to apply for federal assistance or local resources for a job, you have to have an ID — which costs money,” Herrington explained.
“If you don't have money, you have to get a job, but you can't have a job if you don't have the money to get the ID. It’s a cycle. It shows that the process of deciding not to be homeless anymore is not a decision that evokes immediate results.”
Herrington also told Good Good Good that the games — and personas — are meant to dispel common misconceptions about homelessness.
“People use words like ‘bootstraps’ and ‘pulling themselves up,’” Herrington said. “One of the first misconceptions is that homelessness is living in a box or in a tent. In rural areas, especially, and in Starkville, it's multiple families under one roof, living in an abandoned building. It's not seen as readily as someone living in a box in a tent city.”
Herrington went on to explain that the homeless population in Starkville, Mississippi is much more extensive than the “five or six” panhandlers locals see living on the streets.
“They think that's all the homelessness we have, but it's hidden. It's not seen,” she said. “And that, to them, means it doesn't exist. That’s why the homeless experience simulation matters.”
When it comes to expanding the reach of their games, Herrington would love to sit down with influential business leaders and expose them to the everyday realities of their unhoused neighbors.
“If we could get into a room with stakeholders, who have had money for so long, and get them to play this game or to do the homeless experience simulation, I think we could open up more minds,” Herrington said.
Header images via Starkville Strong / Brandi Herrington
