7 years ago

Belgian designer distributes origami-style cardboard tents to homeless

Xavier Van der Stappen used cardboard donated by a local factory and worked with designers to produce the first 20 portable cardboard tents which he paid for himself. He is planning to make 100 more after he receives feedback from users.

Reuters

The factory that donated the cardboard recommended Van der Stappen use a local prison service to make the tents. The irony of the situation appealed to him.

Homeless people in the Belgian capital are constantly under threat because tents are illegal on the streets of Brussels.

But the origami-style cardboard shelters that entrepreneur Xavier Van den Stappen has made and distributed to the homeless, aren't.

Each shelter costs around 35 dollars to make and they are manufactured by inmates at a local prison.

The region around Belgium’s capital city had more than 4,000 homeless people last March, according to La Strada, a public body which tracks the numbers of homeless.

The shelters, warmer than tents, can be folded and carried from place to place.

"It's a way to respond to direct need. I think it's cold now, it's the winter and I feel very bad when I see people living in the street. If I had more money, I will probably open a house," Stappen said.

TRT World's Jack Parrock reports.