There are 250,000 homeless people in England (this includes rough sleepers, sofa-surfers and people living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation). It’s important to know that homeless people can still claim benefits, even with no fixed address. This can help to pay for essentials like dog food and vet care, as well as helping to find work and accommodation. Also read how to help dogs that live with homeless people.
Homeless people can claim Universal Credit (give the address of a family member or friend or a local hostel or even job centre). If you don’t have a bank account, use the government’s Payment Exception Service to collect benefits from a local post office or PayPoint outlet.
If you see someone sleeping rough, the best help is to send a report to StreetLink, an organisation that has local outreach teams that mostly visit rough sleepers at night, to alert them of support to find benefits and accommodation (if the person is under 18, call 999).
Something has obviously gone seriously wrong, especially compared to countries like Finland (which has reached almost zero homelessness thanks to non-profit landlord Y-Säätiö that works with councils to build on-demand furnished M2-Kodit homes that are energy-efficient, with access to green space, public transport and laundries).
City Pods in Seattle, USA
Seattle’s City Pods (above) are assembled in a few hours to convert vacant offices & warehouses into fully-furnished fire-compliant housing (designed to last 10 years).
In the UK, SoloHaus homeless pods are light and airy modular homes that are quick to build and easy to transport, and can be adjusted in size or added together, to accommodate homeless families. They are delivered fully-furnished with fitted kitchens, low-energy white goods and cabling for broadband and TV.
Affordable Flat-Pack Homes from Italy
Another good ‘flat pack’ house company is Italy’s MADI (these can be built in 3 months, and are even earthquake-proof, so good to house homeless people abroad after natural disasters).
Transforming Old Buses into Cheap Homes
Many organisations are now using decommissioned buses to help homeless people. Buses 4 Homeless converts London double-deckers into areas for sleep, cooking, training and holistic support. Blackpool also has its own Big Red Night bus that offers a warm safe place to at night with laundry & shower facilities. And Australia’s Sleepbus has climate-controlled pet-friendly sleep pods with lockable doors and toilets (including a Pink Sleepbus to help help families escape domestic violence).
The organisation has also recently launched Homepody, an affordable emergency accommodtion solution that’s safe and cost-effective, with self-contained modular units with a capped accommodation fee and free electricity, wifi and laundry facilities.
