The City of Brno has bought 47 emergency ‘shelters’, that resemble special thermoisolating sleeping bags, to protect Brno’s homeless people from freezing during winter. Almost 2,000 Brno residents voted for this as part of the participatory budgeting scheme. The shelters cost the city CZK 166,000. Photo credit: MMB.
Brno, May 30 (BD) – “In a single night in January 2019, three people froze in the streets of Brno. The emergency shelters could have saved these people’s lives, and by purchasing them, the people of Brno have contributed to no-one else dying of frost in the streets of our city,” said Kateřina Čanigová, author of the proposal, chosen in the third year of participatory budgeting in Brno.
The non-flammable and foldable shelters are made of insulating polyethylene foam and aluminum foil. They are heated by body heat, which is retained thanks to thermal insulation, so it can be up to 18 degrees warmer inside than outside.
Since April 17th, the shelters have been in use at the newly-opened non-stop center for the homeless at Anthropos, which was set up by the city. In the winter, the shelters will be given to the Diocesan Charity of Brno and the Social Care Department of the City of Brno. These institutions will distribute them to people who, for various reasons, do not use residential homeless shelters.
The project “Emergency Shelters for Homeless People” was the ninth-placed project of the third year of participatory budgeting, receiving 1,990 votes.
