Rethinking homelessness

Zero Flat is an innovative research project that has completely rethought and redesigned solutions to helping the homeless. The project has used social design to get people off the streets and into safe spaces. Now it is looking to expand to help more people find a way to escape the streets, and to share its learnings through an exhibition.

Millions of people across Europe are exposed to homelessness every year.

According to FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless, the figure is more than four million.

Dr Daniel Cid, Associate Professor of Design Studies at Winchester School of Art, has spent the last five years working with Leve Projects (a Barcelona-based studio) and a homelessness charity on a completely new take on accommodation for people suffering from chronic – or long term – homelessness.

The outcome of this work is Zero Flat, a totally different approach to helping homeless people leave the streets. The first Zero Flat has been up and running in Barcelona since 2017 – continuing to operate as a bubble throughout the COVID-19 pandemic – and Daniel and his colleagues have big plans to develop new versions of Zero Flat. A version adapted to the reality of women suffering from homelessness, and bringing Zero Flat to the UK, are among the plans.

“My work is in the space between design and social science,” said Daniel. The design of the accommodation is entirely influenced by the topography of the city and a deep understanding of what it means to be chronically homeless.

“It’s very well demonstrated through practice and theory that most of the time people suffering from chronic homelessness reject shelters because they have too many regulations,” he explained. “Someone who has been sleeping on the streets for 15 years is in a loop and cannot leave the streets. Shelters, for example, don’t allow pets, or alcohol, or smoking. At Zero Flat you can drink, although from a glass not a bottle, and you can smoke, and you can bring your pet.”

Peek inside Zero Flat

Zero Flat is designed to mimic the street in many ways.

A cross-section and the floor plan of Zero Flat

Daniel explained what you find inside: “A bench, a tree and a fountain are the three elements that compose a typical city square in Mediterranean countries. Inside Zero Flat, there are benches that can be converted into beds or tables. During the day, the space can be rearranged into a multipurpose room for the community.

“The philosophy of Zero Flat is for it to be part of the community, so the space can be used by other sectors of the community as a civic centre or a meeting room, for example. The community is very much involved in the management of the apartment.”

People who come to stay at Zero Flat are given a foldable mattress and a portable lamp on arrival.

“People sleeping on the street say it’s difficult to get used to sleeping under a roof because they are used to street lights, so total darkness can be really scary – so we give them a portable lamp,” said Daniel. “There is also a room without a door that is open to the outside, to the terrace. Many people actually choose to sleep in there.”

Staying at the accommodation, which can sleep eight to 10 people, is by invitation. A group of voluntary social workers, who know Barcelona’s chronically homeless population well and have established bonds with the community, will invite individuals.

The results have been fantastic. In its first two years, Zero Flat welcomed 77 people, 57 of whom left the streets as a result. A total of 39 of them moved into more stable accommodation, such as a shared flat or a rented room, 13 continued sleeping at Zero Flat, two moved into a shelter and three moved back to live with family. Seven people returned to the streets, and the remaining 13 were not chronically homeless but Zero Flat helped them through temporary difficulties with accommodation.

Daniel has worked closely with Barcelonabased homeless organisation the Arrels Foundation to make Zero Flat a reality. The organisation runs the accommodation dayto-day and has taken Daniel’s unique social design methods and ethos into developing other spaces such as drop-in centres.

Zero Flat’s future

Replicating Zero Flat in other neighbourhoods of Barcelona is top of Daniel’s agenda once the COVID-19 pandemic allows.

Bringing Zero Flat to the UK is also a priority. Daniel has been discussing the possibility with a London-based charity. “It’s a very interesting charity and they are interested in potentially incorporating the thinking behind Zero Flat into their work to help homeless people,” he explained.

Another plan up Daniel’s sleeve is an ambitious exhibition based around the idea of ‘making the invisible visible’ and putting the spotlight on the topographies of homeless cities.

He said: “Homelessness is not just someone sleeping rough – it’s also someone experiencing gender violence, someone who is going to be evicted. The exhibition will put the spotlight on the complexities of homelessness and address discrimination.

“It will also look at some of the causes of homelessness – it’s not, in the main, because of drugs or alcohol. Being a young personin Europe, being a woman with a child alone, being an immigrant, being unemployed, or having mental health issues – these are all factors that can lead to homelessness.”

For further information, visit: www.southampton.ac.uk/cpwsa/engagement/zero-flat.page