At the LHF we encourage innovate, even quite unusual, ideas to help the homeless. We know that traditional methods work well and thousands of people have been helped off the street. But we also know that any industry needs to keep moving; keep innovating and trying out new ideas.  Some of these ideas might fail, but that doesn’t mean they were wrong to try…

So, we were fascinated to read about sleeping pods.

These small constructions are designed to be fitted onto the side of existing buildings, and seem to almost float above street level. Cheap, clean and easy to put up, they could be the answer to getting people off the street. They are the idea of James Furzer, an architectural technician from the University of Greenwich. He has won awards for the design which features an accessible ladder to a lightweight, modular sleeping pod that attaches against buildings and hovers above street level.

You can read more here:  https://nextshark.com/james-furzer-homeless-sleeping-pods

There are problems of course. None have been built yet, and James envisages planning permission and political problems. And some may ask whether this is a solution or sticking plaster. Where do people go after this? Are they long term? How do you eat, wash, etc.… What about services for substance misuse, mental and physical health?

But while there are problems and the whole concept needs to be thought through in much more details, at the LHF we welcome this contribution to the debate.

Homelessness is a big problem, and we need big ideas to sort it.