Here at Home

In 2007, the United Nations reprimanded Canada because of the extremely large number of homeless people in the country. A year later, the government gave $110 million to At Home, a major national housing project that is nothing less than a social experiment. A total of 1,265 homeless people were allocated homes, while a control group of 970 people only had access to previously existing facilities. This made it possible to conduct research into whether homeless people - who are plagued by unemployment and often mental problems and addiction - benefit from first having a home and then getting help. It turns current practice on its head, because usually people only get a home once other problems have been sorted out. The participants in At Home undergo intensive supervision and are regularly interviewed by the researchers. Meanwhile, they're also being followed by the National Film Board of Canada, creating an interactive web experience that documents and visualizes the project as it unfolds. The web doc will follow the participants and their stories until 2013, when the experiment will conclude. will be presented during Executive producer Hugues Sweeney is also one of the main speakers at the .