This Parking Lot Is Turned Into A Safe Haven For The Homeless At Night

Homelessness is an issue that has always been prominent in our world. Many people don’t have a home because of an illness or because they lost their job. They have bad health and can’t start working, because of that they can’t pay for a doctor, so it’s a neverending loop.

Homeless people don’t have anywhere to go, so they sleep on the streets, covering themselves with newspapers or cardboard boxes, rummaging through the trash cans to find some food or warmer clothes.

This charity decided to help these unlucky people. 

Seeing these horrible ‘living’ conditions, the Australian charity Beddown decided to help these people in need. They came up with an amazing idea to make shelters in places that are vacant at night – like parking lots! The organization asked one of the largest car park operators, Secure Parking, and they agreed to launch a two-week trial in Brisbane.

Image credits: Beddown

This is how the parking lot looked before the Beddown charity and a group of kind volunteers got to work on creating a safe environment for homeless people to finally get a good night’s rest.

Image credits: Beddown

The founder of the charity Beddown Norman McGillivray came up with this idea while walking through an empty parking lot at night, why not use it as a shelter? After some careful planning, they finally made this idea a reality.

 

The aim of this charity is to take common places only used in the daytime and make them into shelters for the homeless at night. They provide safe and secure locations for people to get a good night’s rest.

Many of the homeless suffer from sleep deprivation because of their living conditions, and it can lead to many other problems, like: depression, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, memory loss, it can also impair cognitive function and lead to alcohol or drug use, they are also constantly at risk of being attacked and the little things that they do have being stolen.

Image credits: Beddown

The charity also provided multiple services to the guests, like doctors, nurses, dentists, hairdressers. They gave them new clothing, a place to clean themselves and helped provide social services.

Image credits: Beddown

“We will look to get as close as we can to a proper comfortable bed to provide the homeless with a great night’s sleep is our ultimate goal. Sleep deprivation is a massive issue for our homeless, so being in a place that offers shelter and is safe, secure and comfortable we believe will have a big impact on those who use Beddown” – The creators of Beddown wrote on their Instagram page.

Image credits: Beddown

Image credits: Beddown

Here are some initial statistics after the first pilots and trials:

• 41 guests used Beddown over the duration of the pilot.
• 77% of them were male and 23% were female.
• The guests rated the sleep 4.5 out of 5 and the beds 4.5 out of 5 on average.
• 100% of the guests said they felt safe during their stay.
• Due to overcapacity, 9 people were turned away in one night.
• The youngest person who tried to access Beddown was just 15 years old.

Image credits: Beddown

Image credits: Beddown

“It was great to start bringing the Beddown vision to life last night with a group of our awesome volunteers for the Dry Run. Thank you to our awesome group of volunteers who came in late on a Saturday night to help us trial and set-up some beds. Although as expected we had a few challenges to overcome, it was awesome to start bringing Beddown to life. Beddown will provide an immediate response for those who sleep rough to access safe, secure shelter and access to a comfy bed and a great night’s sleep. We will work with our other collaborative partners to provide long term solutions to transition our guests into accommodation, education and employment opportunities and ultimately put ourselves out of business (this is the vision)” – They said in one of their Instagram posts.

Image credits: Beddown

Image credits: Beddown

These are some of the many comments from the people that were a part of this charity:

“After spending the week here, having a good sleep at night and a routine, it reminded me of life and I booked myself into Rehab for 6 months.”

“Being able to sleep all night and away from drugs, I’m clearer in the day and have not used drugs for 8 days.”

“It’s the first time I have had a dream in years.”

“I don’t have to watch my back here.”