Every night, hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S.—including children—go to sleep without safety, a bed, or a home. Too often, they face judgment, violence, or invisibility.
Being a good ally isn’t about pity—it’s about compassion, respect, and meaningful action.
“Homelessness is a deeply traumatic experience that can happen to anyone, and that can be prevented and healed with sufficient support, resources, and healing-centered policies and practices,” says Eva Tine, Director of Safe and Stable Housing at United Way of Massachusetts Bay. “By being a compassionate ally, you can help bring about the interpersonal and systems-level changes needed so all of our neighbors can heal and thrive.”
Through our work at United Way of Massachusetts Bay—listening to community members, partners, and people with lived experience—we’ve learned what effective allyship looks like. Here are five ways you can make a difference today.
Lead With Empathy
Whether you’re interacting with someone experiencing homelessness or simply talking about the issue, start with compassion. Avoid assumptions—everyone’s story is different.
Tips for Speaking Directly to People Experiencing Homelessness:
- Use respectful, person-first language.
- Avoid dehumanizing or hurtful terms or stereotypes.
- Ask before offering help—don’t assume you know what’s needed.
- Listen first—a smile or simple “hello” can make someone feel seen.
Talk About Homelessness with Children
Teaching empathy early helps raise a generation that responds with understanding rather than judgment.
Tips for talking to children about homelessness:
- Use age-appropriate language that emphasizes compassion over stereotypes.
- Explain that homelessness is often caused by systemic problems, not individual choices.
- Ask questions like, “How would you help someone who doesn’t have a place to sleep?” to help children think through empathy in real-life situations.
- Model empathy through your own actions—volunteer, donate, and speak respectfully. Children learn compassion by watching how adults treat others.
- Make empathy tangible: donate gently used clothes or toys, write notes for shelters, help pack care kits, role-play helpful scenarios, or attend volunteer events.
Give With Purpose
Contributing resources—time, money, or essentials—supports individuals and organizations working to alleviate homelessness.
Tips to Get Involved:
- Donate to nonprofits and mutual aid groups providing housing, meals, mental health services, and other essential support. In our Safe and Stable Housing impact area, partners such as Horizons for Homeless Children, The Haven Project, Harborlight Homes, Justice for Housing, Hildebrand, Housing Families, Just A Start, North Shore CDC, Pine Street Inn, and Heading Home are just a few of the organizations making a difference every day.
- Give gift cards, cash, toiletries, clothes, or food. For example, socks—one of the most requested yet overlooked items among people experiencing homelessness—sparked United Way’s Socktoberfest initiative in response to community input.
- Support social enterprises that help youth experiencing homelessness, especially those aging out of foster care, by donating or purchasing their products. Businesses like More Than Words, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, and Madd Love Market—all United Way partners—use their earnings to provide job training, mentorship, and other programs.
Photo: At More Than Words, youth ages 16-24 who are in foster-care, experiencing homelessness, out-of-school, or in the court system, learn to run an online and retail bookstore while also getting full wrap-around supports to tackle the barriers from our state systems and take charge of their lives.
Advocate for Solutions
Being an ally means supporting policies and programs that prevent homelessness and promote wellbeing. Your actions can help create long-term solutions.
Tips for Advocating Effectively:
- Attend local or state meetings to support permanent supportive housing, affordable housing, and healing-centered wraparound services.
- Support legislation that strengthens social safety nets and addresses the root causes like lack of affordable housing, inadequate healthcare, unhealed trauma, and economic inequities.
- Advocate for programs that give youth and young adults experiencing homelessness safe spaces, mentorship, education, and job training—helping them gain skills and build independent, stable futures.
Photo: Compassionate Conversation Event October 2023. Led by those with lived experience, Compassionate Conversations uplifted real voices and stories to inspire empathy-driven action and policy change.
Speak Up and Challenge Stigma
Use your voice to challenge stigma and defend the rights of people experiencing homelessness. Every conversation is an opportunity to educate and shift perceptions.
Tips for challenging stigma:
- Correct misconceptions and challenge stereotypes.
- Share stories, facts, and resources that highlight systemic causes and solutions.
- Encourage your friends, coworkers, and community groups to take informed action.
- Amplify the voices of people with lived experience—let them lead the conversation and solutions whenever possible.
- Remember: advocacy begins with everyday conversations that humanize, not label.
Photo: Jasmine, a participant of The Haven Project, turned resilience into success—securing her own apartment, rising to a management position, and now planning to pursue a business degree.
Let’s Build a More Compassionate Community
However, you choose to help—through advocacy, or giving—every action, big or small, helps build a more just and compassionate community. Being a good ally isn’t just about a single act of charity. Allyship is systemic—it’s about fostering dignity, understanding, and long-term solutions for people experiencing homelessness.
Share this guide to inspire others to see homelessness through the lens of dignity, shared humanity, healing, and hope.