About Home Stories
Home Stories is a statewide effort to change how Minnesotans understand, discuss, and prioritize housing.
Launched by the Heading Home Minnesota Funders Collaborative, it grew out of the Minnesota Housing Narrative Change Project — a multiyear collaboration between housing funders, advocates, and researchers who set out to build public will for stronger housing investments.
Today, Home Stories helps partners across the state use storytelling, data, and research-based messaging to shift public perception of housing from a technical issue to a shared value. We support local organizations, nonprofits, and leaders in framing housing as essential to thriving communities and a strong Minnesota for future generations.
Housing Is
About People
Not just units, budgets, or zoning. Yet too often, it’s discussed in terms that feel distant from everyday life. Narrative change helps close that gap.
When we lead with real stories and shared values, we connect across geography, politics, and experience. Research shows that Minnesotans respond most strongly to messages that link housing to community, opportunity, and belonging. By lifting up the lived experiences of residents — renters, homeowners, service providers, and advocates — we humanize the issue and expand understanding of what’s at stake.
Changing the story makes housing personal, relatable, and urgent. It builds the empathy and public support needed to make long-term investments possible. Narrative change doesn’t replace policy — it prepares the ground for it.
Our Partners
We work closely with the Housing Narrative Lab, a national organization helping communities use research-based storytelling to build support for housing solutions.
Our work is led by the Heading Home Minnesota Funders Collaborative and strengthened by partnerships with organizations, advocates, and communities across the state.