OpEE

The average citizen in Hungary is likely to see homeless people mainly in urban public spaces, and to hear little about how many people experience homelessness besides rough sleepers, how these people live and possibly get into that situation. The lack of information fuels stereotypes and prejudices about homelessness and homeless people, which can also be reinforced by national legislation that currently criminalises the act of dwelling in public places (Molnár, 2019). This altogether can contribute to the negative discrimination of homeless people in everyday life and is likely to decrease public support for measures to prevent and alleviate homelessness.

To challenge stereotypes and negative opinions about homeless people, the First-Hand Information on Homelessness (FHIH) awareness-raising programme, based in Budapest, Hungary, combines personal interaction with homeless or formerly homeless people, and the sharing of information on homelessness. The programme was founded and is implemented by people with personal experience of homelessness, with support from Roofless, the Hungarian street paper published by Menhely (Shelter) Foundation. In the FHIH programme, experts by experience provide non-formal learning opportunities that they have designed for school students and adults. Their target audiences hear facts about homelessness and personal life stories directly from homeless or formerly homeless individuals, can discuss these topics and ask questions, and can try to put themselves in the shoes of homeless people through a game that incorporates drama elements.

Founded in 2009 and gradually developed since, the FHIH programme is unique within its sector in Hungary. By the end of 2025, a total of 975 events of various types had taken place, 70% of which were held in schools, attended by almost 25,000 people, mainly in Budapest but also in other locations. A wealth of experience was accumulated over more than 15 years, some of which may be relevant to others interested in awareness-raising or peer-led initiatives. Sharing such experience is the main objective of this paper.

In what follows, the FHIH programme will be placed in context through a brief discussion of homelessness and homeless services in Hungary, and a few selected features of the programme. Then its membership, organisation, and methods will be presented, followed by reflections from experts by experience on their participation, and from higher education students on a course implemented in cooperation with the FHIH programme. Finally, the discussion and conclusion will highlight some practical ideas and suggest additional areas for analysis. In our paper, we seek to integrate several standpoints, that of the first author, taking part in academic research training, and that of the experts by experience. We aim to avoid that the paper be dominated solely by the style of the first author, more familiar with academic writing requirements. Thus, an academic approach will be prevalent in the opening and closing parts, and less present in the description of specific programme elements.

This paper is based on the text of a lecture planned for Autumn 2025 by Gyula Balog (second author), expert by experience, founder and then leader of the FHIH programme, and Katalin Gyöngyösi (first author), a PhD student without experience of homelessness, formerly supporting the work of the FHIH programme as a volunteer, and cooperating repeatedly with experts by experience from the FHIH group for study, research and teaching purposes since 2019. The lecture would have presented the history and operation of the programme, with reflections from the target group and experts by experience. Following the unexpected passing of Gyula Balog, the first author continued to work on the text, completing and transforming it into an academic publication that presents thoughts and experiences from the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme, which Gyula had built with much effort and care. In this initiative, she was joined by Péter Lukács (third author), expert by experience with an international outlook and member of the FHIH programme, who consulted with her to develop the overall structure of the article, participated in writing the final description of the FHIH programme, collected necessary information from FHIH members, and shared thoughts and suggestions about the text. Other members of the programme and Staff at the Roofless street paper also contributed data and reflections. Thanks to all.

Context

Homelessness and homeless services in Hungary

Homelessness became a visible social problem of massive scale in Hungary near the end of the 20th century, after the great political and economic changes of 1989-1990, when people who recently lost their accommodation, often in parallel with losing their employment, started to appear in public spaces. In the following decades, with the weakening of the welfare state and in the absence of social policy to effectively prevent and reduce homelessness, a growing number of people with complex needs, facing multiple disadvantages over their life course, became homeless (Albert et al., 2019; Győri, P., 2020; Gyöngyösi et al., 2021).

Importantly, homelessness affects many more people than those living in public spaces. Homelessness can be defined in several ways, academically and in the policy field, in Hungary and internationally. At the European level, this complexity is reflected in the overarching “ETHOS Lights” typology developed by the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA, 2017). Its categories include not only people living rough, in emergency accommodation or in accommodation for the homeless, but also people living in health care or penal institutions (with no housing upon release), in nonconventional dwellings (e.g. huts, tents, mobile homes), and people who, due to their lack of housing, need to live temporarily in conventional housing with family or friends. As this typology demonstrates, homelessness can be understood as part of a spectrum of housing exclusion.

In Hungary, people living rough, in emergency accommodation, accommodation for people experiencing homelessness, or in nonconventional dwellings are legally considered homeless. The relevant law provides two definitions, one stipulating that a homeless person is an adult “who spend their nights in a public space or at premises not designed for human dwelling”, the other that a homeless person is someone “without a registered address, or whose address is registered at a homeless facility” (Act 3/1993 on Social Administration and Social Benefits). Services for homeless people include street social work, night shelters, temporary hostels, day services, soup kitchens, a few rehabilitation facilities and elderly homes, and some dedicated health care services. (Temporary shelters for single mothers and for families are not officially part of homeless services, even though they serve a similar target group.)

Homelessness in Hungary is a predominantly urban phenomenon; most homeless services are provided in large cities, by local governments, NGOs and churches. Their financing is essentially quota-based, coming from the State. It allows for lower quality, often crowded basic services, with few options tailored to the complex and diverse (housing, health, employment and other) needs of clients, and long-term, “revolving door” homelessness is frequent in the country. (Albert et al., 2019).

Due to challenges in data collection (Teller et al., 2023), comprehensive figures on the number of homeless people are unavailable. However, based on expert estimates derived from administrative and research data, the number of homeless people (as defined by law) is approximately 30.000 in Hungary (Albert et al., 2019). This excludes several hundred thousand people who fall into other ETHOS Light categories and are at risk of becoming users of homeless services.

The First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme has been operating in this social and sectoral context. Although it was launched with support from a homeless service provider, the programme was initiated and is implemented by homeless experts by experience, relying on experiential knowledge, which is an important pillar of the programme’s self-definition. The following section will address this aspect.

Uses of experiential knowledge

The FHIH programme was inspired by two initiatives in which homeless people played active roles. The first was Roofless Street Paper¹, founded in Budapest in 1993 by a homeless man, Tibor Ungi. Roofless was – and has remained - written, edited, and sold on the streets by homeless people, in exchange for donations (not through begging). From the outset, it was published by the Menhely (Shelter) Foundation, a Budapest-based NGO that provides services to people experiencing homelessness. After the early death of Tibor Ungi, the subsequent chief editors of Roofless were delegated by Menhely (Shelter) Foundation, and a community of homeless and formerly homeless authors and distributors gradually formed around the newspaper. The social worker Róbert Kepe, still serving as chief editor today, has played a significant role in this. The other initiative important for the creation of the FHIH programme was the housing advocacy group A Város Mindenkié (The City is for All)², founded in 2009 by homeless people and their allies, most active in the 2010s. Some homeless people were involved in both the street paper and housing advocacy, including Gyula Balog, a founding member of The City is for All and the founder and lifelong leader of the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme.

Gyula was born to a poor working family in Budapest. In his early years, he suffered physical abuse and a serious illness resulting in a one-year period of blindness and hospitalisation, and lasting impairment. He started consuming alcohol as a child with his parents and kept drinking daily from secondary school until his early thirties. The lasting effects of his childhood illness and his alcoholism prevented him from pursuing further studies, despite his outstanding intellectual abilities. He had already demonstrated strong communication and community organisation skills in his youth. By the age of 35, relying on the community of Alcoholics Anonymous, he gave up alcohol for the rest of his life. At the same time, he became homeless, and from that time on, he would live in temporary hostels, then rented rooms and a studio. Gyula followed the spiritual principles of the 12-step “anonymous” programmes throughout his life. He considered it his mission to perform a good deed for the community every day, which was also reflected in the creation of the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme³.

The idea for the programme came to Gyula in 2009, after he met a secondary school teacher who bought issues of Roofless from him, read Gyula’s testimonial on getting sober in the paper, and invited him to speak to students about his story and experiences. After this successful event, Gyula wished to organise similar sessions in other schools, involving more people with experience of homelessness. His plans were supported by Roofless, where Gyula, together with the chief editor, planned practical steps to launch the programme. Roofless applied for a first grant to fund it, and participants were recruited from the community of authors and distributors. In early times, social workers also participated in sessions, then a peer-only approach was taken, and professionals were only invited to sessions for (future) social professionals.

Thus, in the FHIH programme, the presentation of homelessness and homeless people is not done by social professionals, even though they have relevant knowledge about the issue and meet homeless people regularly. Instead, homeless or formerly homeless people take the main responsibility for designing sessions, educating target groups, moderating discussions, besides sharing their personal experience. As noted earlier, this design is important for its impact on target groups, as participants can see homeless people in active, competent, and leading roles, which challenges their stereotypes. From the perspective of homeless people in the programme, taking this role has an empowering effect (which we will return to later).

FHIH sessions draw on a combination of experiential knowledge, research, and other professional sources. Members refer to themselves as experts by experience. The term is not used here in a broad sense, considering anyone with experience of a particular situation an “expert by experience” of that situation. Instead, an expert by experience in the FHIH programme denotes people who have experiential knowledge of a difficulty and of how to handle it, who use this experience deliberately and consciously, for the benefit of people facing similar difficulties, in many ways. In their case, this occurs indirectly, with the aim of influencing people in “mainstream” society (while several members also use their experiential knowledge in other ways, e.g., in peer support). While based on practice, not theoretical works, this approach is in line with international interpretations of the homeless expert by experience role, as reflected, for instance, in Barker et al. (2018) or Costas et al. (2018), including a variety of possible tasks such as outreach to prospective clients, peer support work, participation in training and research in cooperation with academic actors, or policy consultations.

Awareness-raising

The main goal of the FHIH programme is to raise social awareness. (Another frequently used term for similar activities in Hungary is “sensibilisation”.) Awareness-raising, as it is interpreted in FHIH, can be linked to a human rights approach claiming that people from disadvantaged social groups historically deprived of rights (such as, e.g., Black people in the United States, or people with disabilities worldwide) must be able to enjoy rights and dignity on an equal basis with others (Cargas, 2020; Brander et al., 2023). While legislation is an important tool to guarantee this, laws alone are insufficient to fundamentally change public thinking and attitudes (United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2019). Additional means include targeted education for specific groups on the consequences of discrimination and the advantages of reducing it, at the macro-level (e.g., through State-commissioned public media campaigns or in mandatory school curricula), or at the micro-level, through small-scale programmes reaching a limited audience (Sayers & Unesco Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, 2006; TAP Network, 2018). Considerable decision-making power and assets are necessary for macro-level awareness-raising, but micro-level initiatives can be built bottom-up, even by experts by experience, with limited means, as we can see in the case of this programme.

After this introduction, we will now present an overview of the programme's membership, organisation, and methods.

The First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme: members, organisational background, peer learning, and methods for awareness-raising

Membership

The First Hand Information on Homelessness programme currently has a core group of about 15 active members, and a few “dormant” ones. The pool of experts by experience has expanded and changed since the beginning. New people are usually invited by group members, or occasionally by social workers in contact with the program. Invitation criteria usually include oral communication skills and willingness to share personal experiences in public situations. Membership tends to fluctuate for reasons related to work, family duties, moving, illness and passing away.

Since the programme's inception, its membership has been predominantly male, with members in their fifties or older. Currently, the average age of the members is close to 60, although in recent times, the number of both younger and female participants has increased. Members come from a variety of educational and work-experience backgrounds. Most members have at least a high school diploma. Some are already retired, and many are still actively working. Their professional background includes community organising, entrepreneurship, journalism, healthcare, hospitality, and social services. Gyula, the founder of the programme, has also completed an adult training programme for experts by experience in the field of poverty, piloted in Hungary (Bányai, 2018). Almost all members have a chronic medical condition or disability. About 40% of current members can still be considered homeless at present; one person is a rough sleeper, several members live in temporary shelters or have informal housing arrangements. Despite the challenges they face, and in addition to their FHIH activities, the majority of members pursue arts-related hobbies, including poetry, music, painting, and drawing, and have their work published in Roofless and occasionally in other media.

Organisation and financing

The programme is led by a coordinator (until 2025, by Gyula Balog, the programme's founder) who sets the main agenda and line of work, which group members can vote on, and make their own suggestions. Most tasks are taken up by group members on a voluntary basis and according to their availability.

Since its early years, the FHIH programme has also received support from the Roofless editorial unit at the Menhely (Shelter) Foundation. Staff at the unit working on Roofless have been providing administrative support that would otherwise be lacking, as the FHIH programme has not yet evolved into an autonomous NGO. This support has enabled the securing of grant-based funding for programme activities from sources available to NGOs, including funding to cover the group coordinator's salary. One employee at Roofless also accompanies FHIH activities on an ongoing basis, providing operational support as necessary and liaising with Menhely (Shelter) Foundation. Their contribution functions more like a voluntary partnership, without decision-making authority overriding the autonomy of experts by experience. In addition to grant-based financial support available through Menhely (Shelter) Foundation, the programme also receives support from donations, e.g., after its sessions at schools, NGOs, or businesses, or through fundraising campaigns. (Donations after sessions are voluntary, but they are recommended to compensate for the time, efforts and expertise of the group members.) Finally, the programme's operations are also supported by volunteers without experience of homelessness, who assist with tasks such as preparing for meetings, writing memos, managing social media and recruitment, or providing feedback on activities.

The FHIH group holds monthly sessions, usually at the Menhely (Shelter) Foundation. The agenda includes recurring items such as reflection on past events and planning future events, occasional live practice for sessions, and an overview of promotion and networking activities. These meetings also serve as social gatherings with refreshments, where program members can catch up on one another's major life events.

Nonformal and peer-to-peer learning of experts by experience

The monthly meetings also provide an opportunity to introduce potential new members to the group. Following their initial introduction, each new member undergoes the same learning process, accompanied by the member who invited them. During a dedicated meeting with the most experienced programme members, the potential new member drafts their life story in chronological order, condensing it to 12 minutes, while receiving advice and feedback on what to include, what to expand, and what to omit. At the next monthly meeting, the new member presents their life story, and everyone can share insights and feedback on structure, tempo, and style to help the new member gain confidence and deliver a more impactful presentation. The new member is also invited to visit schools and observe a few live sessions to familiarise themselves with their structure and implementation. Once their preparation is complete, the new member can begin participating in sessions, initially in the company of more experienced members, until they gain confidence and establish a routine.

In addition to individual learning, group learning events are also provided for members. These include an annual, three-day group training session that focuses on improving performance by practising every element of the sessions in front of an invited audience that provides feedback. These trainings also encourage teamwork, as FHIH members volunteer for tasks related to organising and running the training.

Since 2024, a new initiative, the First-Hand Information on Homelessness Academy, has been launched to equip members with up-to-date information on relevant topics, including housing policy, data collection on people experiencing homelessness, and the situation of homeless women. At these meetings, held approximately bimonthly, invited experts give presentations and answer questions. Written records and transcripts of the presentations are also prepared and shared with members.

Methods for awareness-raising

FHIH methods include sessions for schools, corporate employees, and other adult audiences; living library events; and collaborations with higher education and drama/theatre groups.

The audience is recruited through social media advertising, in Roofless, via emails to former partners and networks the programme participates in, and by word of mouth, especially among teachers already familiar with the programme.

The most frequently held session type, titled Irregular Headmaster’s Class, is designed for students in secondary schools or in the upper classes of elementary schools. (Frequently, lesson time dedicated to headmasters in the curriculum is used for these FHIH sessions, hence the name.) Typically, students in the same class participate in the session, but groups organised at the school level are also possible. Two or three FHIH members participate in each session, including, whenever possible, a man and a woman, with one person serving as facilitator. School sessions typically last 90 minutes (the duration of two regular school lessons). They consist of an opening discussion with the facilitator's guiding questions, which prompt students to share experiences with people experiencing homelessness, reflect on those experiences, and receive additional information on the topics raised (with the aim of establishing rapport and raising curiosity rather than criticism). This is followed by short life stories of two FHIH members and a Q&A session. The next element is a reality-based situational board game developed by the FHIH group that demonstrates the common challenges faced by homeless people. The game is facilitated by an FHIH member, and students volunteer for each round. They receive prompts describing a situation and are invited to improvise for 2-3 minutes, always playing the role of a homeless person, while FHIH members play all other roles (e.g., passers-by, security guards). Students are then asked about their experiences in their role. These situations are designed to further educate students about lesser-known aspects of homelessness, such as legal issues and structural barriers to services. Regarding students' ages, to avoid traumatic experiences, each scenario is enacted by FHIH members to achieve a realistic yet relatively positive outcome. At the end of the session, students can share their overall experience and receive recommendations for supporting people experiencing homelessness.

“Living libraries” are another session type, regularly brought to schools but also held in other contexts (e.g., institutions, public events such as NGO fairs). In these sessions, a few FHIH members participate as “living books” that the public can borrow and listen to, individually or in groups. The title and summary of the “books” are presented at the beginning. The public can “borrow” them for a preset time period, e.g., half an hour, by sitting aside, listening, and asking questions (respecting the boundaries communicated by the “book”). “Book” topics include sleeping rough, recovering from alcoholism, disability, prison experience or being a homeless woman.

Sessions for non-school audiences, e.g., in a business environment, combine elements such as discussion, games, storytelling, or a living library. The corporate partner's interests can inform the tailoring of the session to their needs. The FHIH programme has also piloted sessions featuring discussion and storytelling around a dinner table, in which all participants eat together in a less-structured, relaxed environment.

Thematic urban walks are outdoor sessions in FHIH. In these 1.5-2-hour group walks led by senior FHIH members, participants walk around downtown Budapest to visit places important from a homeless person's perspective. At each stop, participants hear factual explanations combined with personal stories, can ask questions, and chat with the leaders during the walk, which usually ends at a location where participants can sit together to discuss their experience with the walk leader(s).

FHIH members also regularly participate in collaborations in the fields of art and higher education. In some cases, members were involved in theatre productions on homelessness, in acting roles that draw on storytelling and dramatic elements from their awareness-raising activities (such as Addressless by the StereoAct Group⁴ and Revue on a Shoestring by Tandem Theatre⁵). In higher education collaborations, FHIH brings its “irregular class” or living library sessions to higher education settings, hosts higher education students at its sessions held elsewhere, and consults with students working on study assignments related to homelessness. Over the past years, FHIH members have also been involved in participatory higher education courses alongside the first author, from which student reflections will be presented in this paper. First, we will focus on how experts by experience view their own work in the programme.

Reflections from experts by experience on participation in awareness-raising

In January-February 2026, in response to an email from a member of the FHIH group soliciting input for this paper, several members shared brief insights into their motivation for joining the programme, their experiences, and the perceived benefits of participation. In 2024, in interviews related to the first author's doctoral research, other FHIH members also discussed similar topics. Combining these two sources, a few recurring themes emerged.

From the perspective of experts by experience, success in implementing the programme, feelings of being “useful”, and getting positive feedback from the target group are important drivers. Experiencing that a difficult story inspires others can have an empowering effect on the storyteller. The public often expresses empathy upon hearing life stories, and some participants report changes in their attitudes, which is rewarding for experts by experience.

Participating in the programme also provides an opportunity to apply and develop expertise and competencies, such as knowledge of homelessness and skills in communication, organisation, teamwork, leadership, and non-formal education methods. Individual learning and the possibility to demonstrate their competence are valued by several members.

Another perceived advantage of being involved in the programme is that it helps to establish contact between experts by experience and people who are not homeless. The organisation and implementation of sessions involve communicating and cooperating with teachers and other professionals of various profiles and ranks. This, along with advertising the programme and maintaining contact with friends and supporters, also helps experienced experts expand their social and professional networks.

Social bonds within the group, a sense of belonging, mutual emotional and practical support are of utmost importance for most group members. Members usually make at least a few new friends in the group. A relationship between two members has turned into marriage. Group members look out for and help one another with personal problems. For many of them, this serves as a substitute for missing family support, and they particularly appreciate the cohesion, inclusivity, and care for one another within the group as an added benefit of their awareness-raising work.

After discussing the perspective of experts by experience, we turn to the experiences of the target group, illustrated by a university course in which the first and second authors and other FHIH members participated.

Reflections from higher education students on taking part in awareness-raising

The course Experts by experience, peer support in the human services was accredited by the Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education of ELTE Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest in 2023, at the initiative of the first author, then an early-stage PhD student. The participative teaching approach adopted for several courses at this Faculty, in which disabled/neurodiverse experts by experience work in teaching roles together with trained academic teachers (Cserti-Szauer et al., 2022), was one of the inspirations for starting it. The first author designed the main framework and objectives, deliberately leaving space for further details on topics and methods to be elaborated jointly with experts by experience at a later stage. The course ran for two semesters during the 2023-2024 academic year and was taught in English. It was offered as an elective to both international and Hungarian students as a small-group seminar with classroom sessions and short field visits. Each semester, it focused on three areas where peer support existed (mental health, homelessness, disability, or addiction). The content of classes and visits was developed in collaboration with experts by experience from each field, who were invited by the first author. The experts by experience either implemented sessions fully designed by themselves, or, more often, they planned and implemented them together with the first author. Homelessness was on the agenda in both semesters, in cooperation with the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme for classroom sessions and field visits. In total, 23 students participated in one or more of these.

After field visits, students were required to write brief reflection notes in response to guiding questions to support their learning and to provide feedback to all contributors. (Students had been informed that their anonymised collected notes would be used for feedback, and they could opt for sending reflections to the teacher only.) In what follows, we summarise students' reflections on the work of FHIH experts by experience.

Students appreciated the opportunity to gain a closer understanding of the topics discussed by meeting experts by experience in the classroom and during field visits. Almost unanimously, they reported that this course was the first time they learnt from experts by experience in higher education. They valued the openness and honesty of experts by experience, especially when they talked about personal difficulties and painful experiences. (The expression “boldly and without taboos” in the title of this paper is quoted from a student reflecting on this aspect.) Chances for interaction, rather than plenary lectures, were also very welcome.

Students underlined that hearing about lived experience gave them new perspectives on homelessness and on people experiencing homelessness, helped them realise the complexity of human stories and social contexts behind this phenomenon, and made them aware of their own often privileged social position. Several of them reported that meeting members of a group they had known only superficially changed their stereotypes, and they felt more open and willing to talk with homeless people and support them. Finally, they repeatedly remarked that they would have liked to talk more with experts by experience.

Regarding areas for improvement, students mentioned practical organisational issues, such as time management and the need to allocate more time to activities. They also expressed their need for more preliminary information on what to expect in sessions and special appreciation for occasionally working with experts by experience with whom they could communicate in English without translation (such experts were the exception rather than the rule over the two semesters).

Discussion

As we have seen, the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme has successfully developed and implemented a portfolio of awareness-raising activities, drawing on the experience and skills of its members who are homeless or formerly homeless. It has retained its peer-led character, with operational support from the Roofless editorial team, which has actively promoted the concept and practice of peer involvement and peer community development for many years, in partnership with experts by experience. The scope of FHIH activities has expanded gradually, in line with members' capacities and competencies, who receive peer-to-peer inductive training, mentoring, and opportunities for further education to successfully perform their roles in awareness-raising.

The programme's activities follow the principles of non-formal education, not because FHIH members derived them from academic literature or preliminary formal professional training, but primarily because the programme's founder and several senior members were familiar with such methods through experience or non-formal learning, and they received additional input from social professionals, allies supporting the programme. FHIH sessions are characterised by deliberate design of content and methods; they require the mobilisation of prior knowledge and the active involvement of the target group. They often use facilitated discussion, reflection, and analysis of concrete cases (e.g., personal stories), as well as experience-based learning, particularly play, drama, or outdoor elements. At the same time, FHIH activities can be adapted and integrated into various settings, including formal education institutions, particularly at secondary and tertiary levels, businesses, and community events for the general public.

At present, experts by experience mainly work in the FHIH programme on a voluntary basis. When compared with findings from research on volunteering, notably the impact of volunteering on senior volunteers, FHIH members highlight similar personal benefits, such as feeling useful, staying active, a widening of their personal network, a sense of belonging (Jensen et al., 2014). For younger members still of active age, voluntary work of this kind could also serve as a preparatory phase for paid employment through the experience they gain of active teamwork, individual responsibility, and various skills demanded for the task. Given the employment tendencies of homeless people in Hungary (Vágner, 2021), these are valuable assets for entering the job market. However, most of active younger FHIH members are either in full-time employment already, or live with a chronic illness or disability which allows for part-time work, in jobs or settings dedicated to people with special needs, leaving time for at least occasional participation in FHIH during regular working hours. Thus, under the present arrangement (no regular, stable income for FHIH members except for the coordinator), volunteering in FHIH seems most suited for experts by experience partially or fully absent from the job market, with no intention to move forward. This at once influences the selection and retention of experts by experience in the programme, which seems to be a constant without a more predictable and even workload and financial compensation for participants, and a limitation to the further growth and development of the programme.

Overall, the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme provides an example of constructively blending experiential and professional knowledge. This can be considered a remarkable result, as in the field of social affairs as elsewhere, knowledge from scientific sources and the experiences of trained professionals are traditionally considered more reliable than knowledge based on lived experience, and experiential knowledge is often perceived more of a challenge to dominant discourses and inherent power relations (Duffy & Beresford, 2021; Gillard, Foster & Sweeney, 2020). The operation of the FHIH programme conforms to principles of ethical storytelling, an approach to communication and awareness-raising that prevents “tokenism” by safeguarding experts by experience from being used for organisational purposes (Halais, 2023; Frameworks Institute, 2025). The narratives of experts by experience reflect their lived experiences and their decisions on what to share, and they are not selected or edited to serve the interests of professionals or organisations.

Finally, from a theoretical perspective, at micro-level the activities of the FHIH programme demonstrate the potential to contribute to countering epistemic injustice, i.e. the phenomenon when certain people are inhibited in making sense of their experience due to gaps in collective social interpretations, dominated by a powerful majority, or when their words are given less credibility because they belong to a certain group hit by negative stereotypes/prejudices (Fricker, 2007).

Conclusion

To conclude this case study, we will specify its limitations, draw some practical conclusions, and suggest further areas for analysis.

Regarding limitations, the aim of this study was to share experiences from the First-Hand Information on Homelessness programme by presenting its background, principles, structure, methods, and selected feedback. While the programme can be analysed from an academic perspective, drawing on concepts from several disciplines (especially the critical social sciences, education, and social work), it was originally not developed from an academic standpoint. Consequently, applying an overall academic analytical perspective commonly used in academic publications to the whole study would have been misleading and inauthentic. Instead, efforts were made to achieve a balanced combination of an expert-by-experience perspective and interpretations and comments from an academic perspective (that of the first author, a PhD student), while remaining consistent with the programme's overall ethos.

With respect to practical conclusions, experience from the FHIH programme suggests that when building a similar programme “bottom-up”, starting as an initiative of experts by experience, then it is important to plan for gradual development, enough time for preparation, practice and piloting, to let everyone explore their potential and get used to their roles. This might require significantly more time and effort than crafting a research-based programme with input from trained experts and/or academics, only occasionally involving experts by experience, in roles assigned to them by experts by training. Experience from the ca. 15 years of the FHIH programme suggests that the authenticity of awareness-raising sessions and the empowerment of experts by experience are best achieved when they, rather than professionals or academics, initiate and lead these activities.

While the initial purpose of the FHIH programme had been the development and implementation of awareness-raising sessions, the formation of a small community of experts by experience participating in it proved to be an added benefit. A professional learning and support group can be an asset for anyone in any context, but for homeless experts by experience who are still living in vulnerable situations, such a community provides emotional and practical support that otherwise might be lacking in their personal lives. Hence, deliberate efforts and time dedicated to community building are strongly recommended for similar programmes involving experts by experience.

Given the current administrative and financial burden of establishing and operating an NGO in Hungary, the launch of initiatives such as the FHIH programme can be substantially facilitated by support from an established organisation willing to provide human and financial resources. This might cover basic operational aspects that might be too demanding for homeless experts by experience who often work other jobs, have fragile health or disabilities, or lack relevant legal or financial knowledge. However, it is paramount that staff at the supporting organisation clearly understand the relevance of experiential knowledge and have an empowering attitude. Then, a programme built on experiential knowledge and the self-governance of experts by experience can be accepted and genuinely supported within the broader organisational culture. In organisations with no prior experience working with experts by experience, it is necessary to include advance planning, targeted staff training, group reflection, familiarising staff with experts by experience, and dedicating sufficient time for mutual understanding and trust to develop and for attitudes to change.

Finally, for further research relating to the programme, we consider it worthwhile to explore in detail the connections between the FHIH programme and public education - e.g. curricula, school subjects and developmental areas -, and the outcomes of general and professional training in vocational education, especially for professions implying contact with homeless people, such as law enforcement, public service or social assistance.

References

https://fedelnelkul.hu/en/hitvallas/↩︎
https://avarosmindenkie.blog.hu/2009/01/01/english_107 ↩︎
For more details on Gyula’s life, see for instance this interview, originally published in 2016: https://kozeletiskolaja.hu/post/balog-gyula-interju/↩︎
A video with English subtitles is available on this project at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAsTUYytyEw (Last access: 01/30/2026)↩︎
A short description and a trailer (in Hungarian) are available at https://tandemszinhaz.hu/fapados-revu/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiRZUyH5SZA (Last access: 01/30/2026)↩︎

Boldly and without taboos

A case study of the First-Hand Information on Homelessness awareness-raising programme

Introduction