An architecture firm in Aloha State has come up with an innovative solution to alleviate the problem of homelessness in their locality. It is giving some retired city buses a second life by transforming them into homeless shelters.
“The idea is to
convert [the buses] into living, sleeping, showering,
recreational facilities,” Ma Ry Kim of Group 70
International architecture firm told Hawaii News Now.
Kim added that the entire design of homeless shelters “is
based on the premise that you could walk in to a hardware store,
buy everything you need in one go and build everything with no
trade skills.”
Such shelters will
differ from recreational vehicles (RV), trailers or cars which
are equipped with living space and amenities found in a
home.
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“We’re fitting some out to be bathrooms and showers, we’re
fitting some out to be sleeping areas, and the design completely
folds away like a little Japanese tatami mat.”
According to Kim, the company is planning to complete two buses
in summer 2015 and to open the first five shelters by the end of
this year.
Homelessness has increased dramatically in recent years in
Hawaii, the Pacific island archipelago with a population of 1.5
million people that is one of the US’s major tourist
destinations. According to the Hawaii Department of Human
Services, homelessness in Oahu, the third largest of
the Hawaiian Islands, has risen by 40 percent.
In 2014, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell declared “war on
homelessness,” saying that “the sidewalk is not meant to
lie on.”
“We cannot let the homeless ruin our economy and take over
our city,” he added.
READ MORE: Aloha! Hawaii to offer
homeless one-way ticket out of state
Hawaii city authorities’ attitude to homeless people hasn’t
always been sympathetic. In 2013 the state embarked on a
controversial “social cleansing” program to reduce the
size of the state’s homeless population by offering them a
one-way ticket out of state.
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