Page 15 - LTHC Publics Catalog, Spring 2018 Update

GUESTS

Overview

In the Fall of 2017, students from COM 495: PR for Social Change in the Lamb School of Communication
at Purdue University conducted interviews with LTHC guests in order to better understand guests as a
mission-critical public of LTHC. In the pool of guests who were interviewed, there were 6 males and 5 females,
all of whom were experiencing homelessness at the time of the interviews. The individuals interviewed had been
experiencing homelessness for a few months to up to ten years. High rent, loss of jobs, and housing discrimination
are some of the main reasons why these individuals were experiencing homelessness at the time of the interviews.
Within this group, students collected responses on the benefits of LTHC, a shared sense of community, how these
individuals received word of the center, and areas for improvement, among other topics. Some guests responded
more in more detail than others, however, the wide range of feedback allows those in public relations and other com-
municative roles to understand, to some degree, the breadth of perspectives in this public.

The students split the guests into five different groups of interviewees. The first group consisted of three wom-
en, one of whom met her husband through LTHC. The second group was two men, one of whom spent 10 years in
and out of LTHC because of fluctuating working conditions. Group three was two men as well, both of whom had
spent two months in the transitional housing center. The fourth group was two women (whom the students suspected
may have been related), who spent two to three months in the housing program. Lastly, the fifth group consisted of
two men from very different backgrounds. One man has spent the last 15 years in the LTHC program, while the other
gentleman was experiencing his very first day on the date of our interviews.

The diversity within the group, both of age ranges, genders, time spent in LTHC, and reasons for joining the program
speak volumes of the program as a whole. It is important to note that a majority of the guests we interviewed
mentioned that they had heard of the program through word of mouth or on the streets from friends. The
next two sections of this chapter will highlight some of the feedback we were able to receive on what guests like about
LTHC versus what can be improved.

Two of the fifteen guests
housed through LTHC
Homeless Services in
November 2017.
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