I feel like this must have been done in some way already, but I don’t think it has been done like this.
Swap comparable homes of two families who live in racially or religiously or politically different neighborhoods. Move the families completely out of their homes, and into each other’s.
Follow them as they settle in and get to know the new neighborhood and neighbors through various inter-personal challenges for 3 to 6 months.
Highlight conflicts, of course, and try to address them and explain them.
But highlight the positive and unexpected good, too.
At the end, ask if they want to make their swapped houses their new homes — in which case the title card of the show changes from House Swap to Home Swap. If both families want to, they get their new homes paid off, or, if that is prohibitively expensive, maybe limit the incentive to a set amount ($100,000?) toward the mortgage.
The hope of the show is to start diversifying segregated neighborhoods, to show that people can and will be accepted in unfamiliar areas by “others”, to humanize those others on all sides, and to destigmatize the involved neighborhoods and cross-identity intermingling.
Also, embrace opportunities to show, identify the roots of, and deal with racism, prejudice, preconceptions, etc.
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