This time of year brings additional challenges to those living on the streets: the nights are longer and colder, and plummeting temperatures and wet weather increase the risk of illness.

 

Charities such as Crisis provide food and basic healthcare to around 2,800 people each Christmas in addition to their year-round work; since 2010 homelessness has been on the rise in the U.K., with charities anticipating a worsening problem as the impact of cuts to housing benefit and services make themselves felt, according to a recent report by a U.K. newspaper.

 

The beds, an idea proposed by a local primary school teacher who is a graduate in Psychology, are created using a template and waste paperboard donated from a local bike shop. Feedback from homeless users has been positive. Though currently being used on a domestic small scale, inquiries have been made about how the project could, for example, help Syrian refugees.

 

More information about this project is available in the original article published online by The Guardian (London, U.K.).