Broadcaster Tom Dunne Undertakes Social Experiment to Understand Homelessness

What’s it like not being able to close your front door for 24 hours? To experience the lack of security and protection that a front door provides for you and your family?

Broadcaster Tom Dunne recently accepted an invitation from the Simon Communities and BBDO Dublin to take part in a social experiment and leave the front door of his family home open for a 24hour period. The experiment was designed to help understand what it’s like to not have the security of being able to close the front door and keep the outside world away and is part of the charity’s Closing Doors campaign, marking 50 years of the Simon Communities.

Over the course of 24 hours, video content was captured of the experience of Tom and his family. 

 

Tom Dunne said: “When I was asked by Simon Communities to take part in this social experiment, I had to think about what leaving my front door open all night would mean for me and my family. We think of our home as secure, we are protected when we are within the walls. But a homeless person doesn’t have that protection and I wanted to have a great understanding of the most vulnerable in society. During the 24 hours of not having a door to close, I went through a range of emotions around the lack of security and increased vulnerability as day passed into night. I hope that by talking about my experience, I can help Simon Communities to close the door on homelessness for others.”

Simon Communities, which is marking 50 years since its foundation in Ireland in 1969, has launched the ‘Closing Doors’ campaign, created by BBDO Dublin to tell the stories of people it has supported to close the door on homelessness. In the campaign, Simon Community clients will be sharing their experiences of the safety and security of closing their own front door behind them. In 2018, the charity ‘closed the door’ for more than 2,400 men, women and children across Ireland, helping them move out of homelessness and into a secure home.