When our previous game PONCHO didn't do so well, I found myself five figures in debt, jobless, unable to pay rent and thus went through eviction. We didn't make it to being on the streets, we were lucky enough to have the safety net of friends and family to couch surf with until we were back on our feet. But it made us realise how easy it is to fall into homelessness, if that safety net isn't there.
We began the game with prototyping and research, quickly realising that we couldn't do the subject justice unless we also made it about mental health, addiction and other issues tied into homelessness.
We did speak to dozens of homeless people, as well as cross referencing many, many articles, studies and other data published by various charity, journalistic and governmental institutions. Through this we learned things like the leading cause of homelessness among women being escape from domestic abuse, that the average life expectancy for someone who is homeless long-term is 44... I could go on, but the research was a big part of it.
If you're wondering what homeless think of the game now, it's about 70/30 positive negative, based on the public reviews from people on steam and such. Though I always expected some players to go in "with their arms crossed", so to speak, since it is a risky subject.
We detest games like "Bum simulator" existing; we wanted to create a positive voice from the world of games on a serious issue by building empathy in the player through the medium I know best. And we really wanted to get it right for this reason, balancing the fine line of making it an engaging experience while also being a depressing one. I guess we just had something to say, and now we've said it.
Happy to answer any more questions. ^-^