This article was originally published in B&T.
Benjamin Haslem, Icon's Director of Media and Public Affairs, recently participated in Vinnies' annual CEO sleep-out. Here he chats about the experience he described as a “privilege".
It’s easy to be cynical. I know because I was.
Well-heeled CEOs and other business leaders ‘sleeping out’ to raise money for the homeless – over $8.6 million this year – is clearly a great outcome; especially given the current housing and cost-of-living crisis enveloping Australia.
But for mine, there was always a sense that this wasn’t exactly ‘sleeping rough’, and it all bordered on being slightly patronising. Privileged people claiming to experience homelessness as they networked and boasted on LinkedIn.
I couldn’t be more wrong.
