Theo Henderson, founder of the “We the Unhoused podcast and a person who has experienced homelessness himself, has been chosen to serve as as activist-in-residence at the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Ananya Roy, director of the institute, said that Henderson has already had a significant impact on the public’s understanding of homelessness in Los Angeles.

“Rooted in his own experience of becoming unhoused, his podcast is a decisive intervention in how we understand housing insecurity and housing solutions,” said Roy, also a professor of urban planning, social welfare and geography. “Mr. Henderson constantly draws our attention to the structural causes of poverty, including racism, and reminds us of the social and policy shifts needed to address such issues.” 

Now in its fifth year, the activist-in-residence program brings artists, activists and public intellectuals to UCLA in an effort to further academic understanding of housing and other social justice issues.

Henderson, who has spoken to classes and in other academic settings, including several times at UCLA, said one of the central “civil rights issues of our time is houselessness.”

Read the full news release.