It’s not too difficult to find empty boxes, so some homeless build their own little quarters from boxes – either by using one big box or putting boxes together like Lego blocks. Problem here is when it rains (or snows), the shelter is going to get soggy and collapse sooner than later. If one can get ahold of a tarp, that helps, or they just start over with new boxes.
In a Pipe
In Pattaya, Thailand, a homeless man had found refuge in an abandoned construction drainpipe. The 50-year-old used scraps of wood and vinyl banners to keep the sun and rain out of cracks in his 90-centimeter-wide pipe near a bridge that held his mattress, pillow, and belongings. Some people regularly stopped by to give him food and personal items to help. He has since vacated after being forced to do so and go live with a sister he is at odds with.
In a Pigeon Shed
In a patchwork of chicken wire, wood, and plastic tarps, a man named Stewart made his home in an abandoned pigeon shed in North Yorkshire, England. He used corrugated plastic to replace broken window panes, lined the floor and some of the walls with insulating boards that he salvaged from a skip, and built himself a bed, where a pile of books were stacked on the floor at the foot of the bed.
While there is no electricity or running water, Stewart installed a wood-burning stove and washes every morning in water from a large container he occasionally refills and pulls behind a trailer hitched to his bicycle. At night, he uses battery-powered lamps.
According to Stewart: “If you have a good book, a radio, you are warm, and you are safe, you can close your eyes and be anywhere. It doesn’t matter if you are homeless or living in a palace – it’s all in the mind.”
