7 Ways People Are Making Urban Life Better for Homeless Populations

Homelessness in America

• The number of people experiencing homelessness in the U.S. was estimated at 580,466 in early 2020, and the number only grew during the pandemic.
• City planners use violent architecture to discourage homeless populations from residing in urban environments: spikes on sidewalks, barriers on benches, and sharp installations under bridges.
• The counter-responses to the assault on homeless populations range from creative and innovative, to simple and transformative.

7 Innovative Strategies for Helping Homeless Populations

1. Parking Lot Beds

• America has between 800 million to 2 billion parking spots. Many of those are underground, underutilized, and could feasibly be used as shelter for the unhoused. 
• An Australian charity, Beddown, aims to utilize this space for a transformative cause: providing a good night’s sleep.

2. Providing Makeovers 

• Infrequent access to showers, personal hygiene products, and shelter can impact the ability of homeless populations to appear competitive when looking for a job. This creates a barrier to employment, increasing the likelihood of long-term homelessness and economic precarity.
• Brazilian hairdresser Leandro Matias is among a small cohort of people putting their skills to work by helping transform people’s appearances, making them presentable for interviews and appointments.

3. Mobile Medical Units

• Caring physicians and nurses in Los Angeles and other cities travel to homeless encampments and provide medical check-ups, blood tests, and physical exams pro bono. 

4. Getting Creative with Tents and Pods

• Underprivileged teens from the program DIY Girls invented a solar-powered tent that can roll into a backpack, and have been rewarded with an award from MIT.
• BillionBricks is an organization that creates extreme-weather tents that use ingenious reflective panels and hardy materials to protect against the elements and dangerous temperatures. 
• A German city called Ulmer is pioneering solar-powered, protective pods for unhoused people to utilize in the dangerous winter months. 

5. Portable Showers

• Movements like The Right to Shower are working to make showers accessible for people experiencing homelessness. They sponsor mobile showers with their partner Lava Mae, which they take to low-income neighborhoods, providing free hygiene products and a chance to get clean.
• You can volunteer, donate, and learn more here. 

6. Creating 3D-printed tiny homes

• This high-tech approach allows unhoused people to create tiny homes for themselves using 3D printers. 
• American company Icon created the Community First! Village, a 51-acre site that features 500 homes for the chronically homeless, all of which have been 3D printed.

7. Housing First Initiatives

• Finland has gained international attention for its attempts to end homelessness by providing housing to anyone in need. Since 2008, long-term homelessness in the country has decreased by 40 percent.  
• This approach, known as Housing First, is gaining traction in the U.S., emphasizing the importance of removing barriers to accessible homes, which often includes clean drug tests and health exams as a requirement.
• Housing First believes that giving someone shelter and stable housing is the first step to seeking employment, sobriety, community, and pride in themselves.

How are you helping homeless people in your community? Share your story.

—Emma Kansiz

Photo Credits: Twitter/Bored Panda