Mobile sleeping carts for homeless people
19-10-2007

Danish industrial designer Jørn Bagger has designed two mobile sleeping carts for the homeless people in Denmark. See pictures below.

Many homeless people live a harsh and high-risk life on the street. They are often sleeping on the bare, cold ground where they are exposed both to the elements and illnesses, but also the violence which many homeless people experience when sleeping unprotected on the street.

The idea of mobile sleeping carts came to Jørn Bagger 10 years ago, but only just last year, after a chance encounter with a homeless person, did the idea really take off. The carts are designed after several more chats with homeless people – with the help of Danish street-based magazine Hus Forbi and the national organisation for homeless people in Denmark, SAND – and with attention to the real needs of homeless people. One of the ideas of the carts is to have the homeless people sleep above ground level, and also to give them a place to cook and store their belongings. It is important to be able to secure the cart and other personal belongings, and Jørn Bagger has also taken this into consideration; the carts are made in a way so they blend with the crowd and the life of the city, camouflaged to attract less attention.

The two models in the pictures are both test models, and it is therefore uncertain whether they will be put into production in the future. The first cart (with the blue canvas) is easy to move about. It can be used for shelter from the rain, for a table when folded and for sleeping in when it is put up. Many homeless people have, however, expressed their discomfort at lying as high above the ground as it is the case with this cart.

The second cart (with the white/grey canvas) is less mobile, but more inviting as it appears to be more secure and stable. This cart is intended for those of the homeless people who do not move about very much and need something more stable with room for compartments where books, kitchen utensils etc. can be stored. Many of the test persons prefer this cart because you lie closer to the ground and it has a sort of back rest which you can rest your head on.

It is Jørn Bagger's idea that the carts can be produced in an even lighter material than is the case now, e.g. plastic, so as to become even easier to push and transport around. The idea is that the homeless people themselves can be in charge of the production of the carts, e.g. in protected workshops in Section 110-shelters
(Read about Section 110 in Consolidation Act on Social Services: http://eng.social.dk/index.aspx?id=5447dd14-839d-466d-8be2-04bddb536de8).

For the people who have no place to live and who live a harsh and high-risk life on the street in the cold and frosty weather the carts are a good 'alternative home'. Warmest wishes to Jørn Bagger with the hope that the municipalities, the Ministry of Social Affairs and/or private foundations will support the initiative.