Homelessness

While it's important to find homes for the houseless, the truth is that many people will stay living on the street in the meantime. The Mini Mansion is made with that fact in mind, as a portable and better equipped alternative to current options.

The LOHA-designed MLK1101 Supportive Housing in Los Angeles provides a safe and affordable home to homeless people and other vulnerable groups. It incorporates several energy-efficient elements, including a focus on natural lighting and ventilation.

Action Hunger has launched a vending machine to give folks who sleep rough on city streets round-the-clock access to essentials such as food and clothing. The free-to-use service has been 2 years in the making and will run as a month-long trial at a shopping center in Nottingham, UK.

Panoramic Interests has designed a self-contained stackable tiny apartment that it it feels could be a viable home for the homeless. MicroPAD modular dwellings comprise a floorspace of just 160 sq ft (14 sq m), but include a kitchenette, sleeping area, and bathroom.

Singapore-based non-profit Billion Bricks has designed a reversible tent for homeless people. Billed as being easy and quick to pitch, it's designed to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. You can also order one for yourself, if so inclined.

One of the difficulties in addressing homelessness is that homeless populations can rise or fall more quickly than is possible to react to, leaving areas under- or over-resourced. The Sleepbus, however, will provide a mobile haven for people sleeping rough, that can move where it's needed.

According to the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), there were 607 families in emergency accommodation in Dublin during August this year. One means of reducing this, it says, could be the use of modular housing. It can be built quickly and inexpensively to house homeless families temporarily.

A prefabricated modular block of apartments has been opened in London, to provide accommodation for the homeless. The Y:Cube concept was announced earlier this year and its method of construction means that rent can be kept low. Residents will pay just 65 percent of the local market rate.

As well as facing the dangers of exposure to bad weather, homeless people are more likely to be victims of violent crime, theft and abuse from the public. A new conceptual shelter is aimed at tempering these dangers. Homes for the Homeless proposes cheap pods that attach to the sides of buildings.

A project by Seattle-based charity Sawhorse Revolution is both educating young people and creating accommodation for the homeless. The Impossible City is a community of housing built by local teens as they learn new skills. The accommodation is designed to be affordable, sustainable and movable.