First Museum of Homelessness Opened in London

A new Museum of Homelessness opened its first permanent site in an Edwardian groundsman’s lodge on the edge of North London’s Finsbury Park on Friday. It was earlier founded as a roving project a decade ago.

This new Museum of Homelessness makes it frighteningly clear that homelessness can happen to anyone.

Its inaugural exhibit – entitled ‘How to Survive The Apocalypse’ – is about an affluent finance worker in his early sixties, who was living in comfort in Japan. But he was eventually found himself recovering from cancer treatment while homeless on the streets of London.

The museum’s opening is timely as the number of people sleeping rough on Britain’s streets has risen by 26%.

This unique museum offers a blend of storytelling, education and advocacy focused on the experiences of homeless people. It offers an interactive experience where volunteers share the stories behind the objects in its collection using the exact words of its former keepers.

Each object’s narrator reveals a striking backstory. A rough, handled wooden staff repaired with duct tape, for example, was actually replacement for crutches that a homeless sufferer of chronic back pain used.

Some stories of homeless people as admirable survivors may cheer visitors.