In the Storm-Battered Northeast, a Potential Aid for the Homeless

The blizzard of 2015 was gentler than predicted in New York City and Philadelphia, with between four and 10 inches of snow falling in NYC. Still, every heavy snowfall and instance of severe weather represents a major challenge to homeless people who can’t or don’t want to seek refuge in a shelter or warming center. Every year, nearly 700 homeless people die from hypothermia. The weather doesn’t have to be arctic for someone to be at risk.

The dangers those living on the streets face inspired students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to come up with a potentially groundbreaking solution for keeping homeless people warm during cold weather.

Incorporating heat-trapping Mylar, a shiny foil-like material used for emergency blankets, and the more traditional cold-weather fabric, wool, the Satellite Shelter is lightweight, folds easily, and looks like a big caterpillar when someone’s inside. The shelter prototype cost less than $100 to produce and includes a waterproof layer, wheels, and a shoulder strap for easy carrying.

“We wanted to make sure the shelter was super portable and durable,” said Linh Thi Do, a business student at Carnegie Mellon who helped design the shelter.

The concept originated last October at an Impactathon, a hackathon-style event in which design, engineering, and business students at Carnegie Mellon’s Innovation Institute tackle a tough social problem. This time the challenge was to quickly find a portable and creative idea for a shelter that would keep people on the street warm during the winter.  

Though Pittsburgh has around 1,500 homeless people, in 2013 there were only about 350 shelter beds in the city.

Teams had five days to conceive and complete the design and prototype; 16 groups finished the project. They didn't simply pull ideas out of thin air. The students “do research to understand the problem, the different perspectives, and consider the needs and desires of the stakeholders,” said Jonathan Cagan, an engineering professor and the director of the Innovation Institute.

“The most difficult part of the challenge was recognizing complex and varied needs of homeless people. They’re such a diverse group of individuals,” said Alex Surasky-Ysasi, who is pursuing a master's degree in integrated innovation and helped design the Satellite Shelter. The project is reminiscent of the EMPWR coat, a jacket–sleeping bag hybrid coat manufactured by and distributed to homeless people.

People who might be reluctant to go to a shelter to survive winter storms need “anything that’s gonna help brace against the cold,” said Cozzetta Uwejeyan, director of case management at Facing Forward to End Homelessness, an organization that provides life-skills training, permanent housing, and education to Chicago's homeless population. During cold nights in Chicago, some outreach workers drive throughout the city offering blankets and hot drinks to people living on the streets.

Mylar, which is featured prominently in the Satellite Shelter, would be an ideal material to use when keeping warm outside on cold nights, said Uwejeyan. “That would provide a lot of warmth, be cost-effective, and make a big difference.”

While homeless families who’ve been living in cars may pack warming centers and temporary shelters during a storm, people who have mental health issues often are the ones who are refusing to go into the shelter, and they need support.

Some advocates for the homeless bristle at initiatives like Satellite Shelter, partly because they obscure the larger issue: People need permanent housing.

“If you can get every homeless person inside, that would be fabulous,” said Cagan. Rather than being an “ultimate solution” to the widespread and seemingly intractable problem of homelessness, the Satellite Shelter is an innovative and affordable proposal that shows how good answers to long-standing problems can be found in a short period of time.

When winter storm warnings being to sound like they did on Monday, it means hundreds of people are in danger of hypothermia. “Drive around New York City or Chicago, and there are people who are homeless on the street,” said Cagan. The question is “What do you do today, if you’ve got people on the street?”

Original article from TakePart