Extreme-weather tents for the homeless could help save millions of lives
UPDATE: Nov. 3, 2016, 10:01 a.m. GMT Added video and updated information.
SINGAPORE -- For millions of homeless people around the world, finding shelter from the elements can be a challenge. Extreme winter cold and summer heat can be fatal to people who aren't sufficiently protected.
Tough tents produced by billionBricks, a small non-profit in Singapore, are pitched at alleviating the problem.
Priced at about $100 per WinterHyde tent, the triple-layer weatherproof fabric is draped over a basic structure assembled from common PVC pipes. The idea is for people to find or purchase the inexpensive pipes on their own, so the tent fabric and joint parts can be shipped to them more easily, explained Prasoon Kumar, founder and CEO of billionBricks.
Here's Kumar demonstrating how to set up the tent in roughly 15 minutes:
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Kumar told Mashable that he first sketched out the tent's design in 2014. The most recent version is the eighth iteration, which includes trimmings such as ventilation windows.
The team also decided to make the fabric drape reversible -- in the winter, it keeps body heat in, and in the summer, it reflects the sun.
billionBricks is now raising funds on Kickstarter to try and provide 500 tents to families in need. They first concluded a small six-month pilot in New Delhi, in which 15 homeless families were sheltered through winter and summer months, and they said that this initial testing was very positive. They gave suggestions to the company, such as built-in lighting -- a feature that might find its way into the next design upgrade with solar lights, he said.
Some families have also requested larger tents. The structures are designed to hold two adults and three children, but Kumar noticed families of up to seven sleeping in them.
"I saw (the tent) as an emergency shelter for winter, but this couple I saw moved a bed inside. They said it was the first home they've had in years," he said.
billionBricks is working with other non-profits and governments to reach more homeless people with the product. The company plans for these groups to fund the tents, but is also working on a financing plan that would let homeless people pay for their tents over time.
Its next test project will be far more ambitious, with plans to send 1,000 WinterHyde tents to countries in South Asia by the end of the year.
But billionBricks faces more barriers than simply reaching the homeless, Kumar said. "I've faced a lot of lack of urgency on the ground, from some organisations," he lamented.
"There's a lack of accountability. What happens when people die? Some media coverage -- but no heads roll."
Kumar also told Mashable that WeatherHYDE is just the first step in the billionBricks plan for a more sustainable future in communities most hard-hit by high levels of homelessness. They are now working on building up public institutions, like schools, using old containers and helping to provide basic services to the most disadvantaged.
The next step is to try and install solar panels into the tents, which, in the long-run (6-8 years, possibly), could be used by the families to be sold back into the electric grid.
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
