Big World Homes – A New Housing Revolution?

What makes a city truly great? Is it the people? The culture? The architecture? The weather? Many different factors combine to make a great city, just as there are many different cities that can be considered great. New York, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Sydney – the list goes on. And of course there is Copenhagen, declared the 2016 world’s most livable city by the Metropolis magazine. Naturally the demand to live in these cities is high. And you don’t need an economist to tell you that where there is high demand, high prices follow.
BY CAL MCGUIRK

Housing affordability is an increasingly important issue in Copenhagen and Pioner has already explored this issue previously in a separate article titled ‘CPHcontainers’. However for today we have travelled all the way ‘down under’ to Australia’s largest city, Sydney, to investigate a new solution to their housing affordability issues. Sydney is currently the 7th most expensive city in the world to buy a house (Copenhagen doesn’t make the top 20) and also boasts the largest average house size in the world.

A tale of an unaffordable city

When people think of Sydney they think of the beaches, the harbor and of course the Opera House, designed by the Danish architect Jørn Utzon. What they may not know is that Australia not only managed to avoid a downturn during the global financial crisis of 2007-8, it is now in the middle of 25 years of uninterrupted economic growth. It has integrated itself in the Asian market and by most indicators is a dynamic, prosperous and growing economy with a diverse job market. However for young Australians, the great Australian dream of owning your own home is now largely out of reach. It is no longer a question of working hard and saving hard – property is now simply too expensive for the average income earner.

House Prices in Sydney have risen dramatically over the last 40 years. In 1975, the average house price was four times the average annual income. Move forward to 2016 and the average house price is now 12 times average annual income. With a current average annual income of $81,900 AUD (approx. 420,000DKK), this means the average home (i.e. not a mansion on Bondi Beach) sells for $980,000 AUD (approx. 5.1m DKK). Teachers, tailors, builders and bakers that used to be able to purchase property are now priced out of the market, needing to save 50% of their income for five years to afford a deposit on an average home. This is almost impossible for most people to do.

With or without the government

The Australian Government has little interest in providing a solution – property developers provide some of the largest donations to political parties and the baby boomer generation (those born in the post-World War II baby boom, approximately between 1946 and 1964), the beneficiaries of this property boom, make up the majority of the electorate due to Australia’s ageing demographics, while also making up the vast majority of Australia’s politicians. The Grattan Institute, a leading Australian based think tank, recently stated in their 2016 report on Australia’s property tax system that Australian negative gearing tax arrangements (negative gearing allows those property investors who can afford to purchase more than one property to deduct the net expenses of the costs of those additional properties, such as interest on loans and depreciation, from their personal income tax) go beyond broadly accepted principles in other OECD countries, and that negative gearing primarily benefits those on high incomes. Introduced in 1987, ostensibly to encourage growth the in property industry, the policy has increased homes purchased by investors from 14% in 1992 to 51% in 2015. Despite being a ‘hot topic’ at the recent 2016 federal election, nothing changed.

A price-conscious solution

Fortunately, a group of Australians have come up with a groundbreaking solution. They have split the housing market equivalent of the atom – the strong force that has wrapped together the value of land and the price of the building into the total house price. Welcome to Big World Homes.
Big World Homes aims to be the new model of sustainable, affordable housing. Designed and founded by architect Alexander Symes, Big World Homes is an ecologically sustainable mash-up of the tiny homes movement and IKEA. Tiny modular homes (13.75m²) are shipped flat-packed directly to the customer, and can be set up in just a few days, with no tools other than a drill and a hammer. The houses come with water tanks and solar power units so it’s completely off the grid and can be set up literally anywhere there is flat, available land. They’re also modular – so you can connect two or more if you want more space. The price is just a fraction of the cost of most of the homes currently on the market. By removing the other component of traditional housing (land and labor), Big World Homes can price their product at an affordable level for all Australians. The first BWH house cost $65,000 AUD, a price less than the average annual income in Australia.

Each home is built on a custom made trailer that is durable, lightweight and fits the solar batteries and water tanks underneath its deck. As long as the trailer is registered it is considered a vehicle and in most places in Australia there are no restrictions on parking a registered vehicle on private property (think of caravans). This means that virtually anyone can house a Big World Home, you can even put one in your backyard. But for those without access to vacant land (the majority), Big World Homes is trying to solve this problem too. Through partnerships with landowners like universities and local councils, unutilized land will become home to Big World Homes communities.

Big World Homes Ambassador Ella Colley explains:

“The idea is to create pop-up communities on land that’s underutilized. For example when a developer buys a piece of land, the process of getting approval to build might take two or three years. In that time, a Big World Community can provide affordable housing for people who need it. Those people can then take advantage of the benefits of city living, like public transport and access to services and jobs. When the permanent structure is ready to be built, the mobile Big World Homes can be moved to a new site.”
“These homes provide a lower point of entry into the housing market – somewhere between renting and home ownership. For young people like me, it’s a chance to get out of the cycle of renting, which takes up such a huge portion of income without investing anything in the future.
“In terms of the bigger picture, this project also aims to challenge our assumptions about what ‘home’ means. Australians have some of the largest average house sizes in the world, and so much space is wasted. We want to encourage a more sustainable and community-focused approach to housing, where people can take advantage of the sharing economy to a greater degree“ says Ella Coley.

A big world owner and big world aspirations

Ms Colley, a recent graduate of The New School in New York City where she completed a Masters in International Affairs and Media, is both the ambassador of the brand and the test pilot.  She will soon be moving into the first prototype Big World Home for four months, which is located in central Sydney. “I can’t wait to move in. When I saw it for the first time I was actually really surprised – it was bigger than I’d imagined, even with the full kitchen and bathroom. You wouldn’t call it luxurious, but it’s perfectly comfortable for just one person. I’m going to have to get creative about how I use the space, and definitely reduce the number of things I own. But I’m really looking forward to the challenge. I like the idea that I’ll gain a greater understanding of things like my energy and water usage, and how much waste I create,” says Ella Coley

Time will tell how much success Big World Homes achieves, however they have already made giant strides and have a team of over 25 talented professionals with varying expertise working on the project. They have been featured on all major TV stations and newspapers in Australia and even on Good Morning America on ABC. They also have several major partners backing the project, including IKEA. While there is still work to do, the Big World team will announce details of their first Big World Community in early 2017 and have been in talks with banks to ensure affordable financing products are made available to folks looking to fulfil the Great Australian Dream of owning their own home.

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NY #BETHECHANGE FILM OM RECYCLES

Denne film i #BeTheChange-serien, fortæller historien om cykelforretningen Recycles og deres arbejde med at istandsætte og genbruge klassiske kvalitetscykler og stel og lave nye unikke cykler af gamle. Filmen er instrueret af Uffe Truust og produceret af Jonas Koop fra selskabet Milk & Honey (www.milkhoney.dk). Den er en del af serien #BeTheChange, som handler om personer, der har skabt et arbejdsliv i spændet mellem bæredygtighed og forretning.

Solving the student housing problem of Copenhagen with old containers

Two Danish entrepreneurs have chosen to do something concrete about the perpetual problems of finding affordable student housing in Copenhagen. We met one of them, Michael Plesner, for a talk about how they did it.

BY PENELOPE DIAMANTOPOULOU

Pioner: How did you get the idea for CPH Containers?

Michael: “When we started CPH Containers we wanted to make a scalable business that could help solve large, societal challenges. This was inspired by Porter’s and Kramer’s 2011 Harvard Business Review article ‘Creating Shared Value’.

Around that time, my cofounder Frederik and I were working in NGOs, where we talked a lot about environmental and social challenges and solutions. But we had not undertaken actions on a big, impactful and grand scale yet and we wanted to do something about that.

At the same time, we had seen that people around the world were reusing old shipping containers for many different functions, including housing – a sector full of environmental and social challenges.

We realized that while there is increasing lack of affordable housing for young people, most major cities actually have lots of empty land available. Combining Danish aesthetics and quality with the mobility of containers, we wanted to take container architecture to the next level. Our goal is to make a sustainable housing solution that could make use of the temporarily empty areas, creating a new way to live. “

FOTO: Anders Brinckmeyer

Pioner : Why is CPHcontainers a sustainable solution?

Michael: “We are upcycling old shipping containers into cool student accommodation that has a very low environmental footprint while we take advantage of the containers’ mobility. This allows us to transport homes from site-to-site and make use of cheap, empty land in major cities. The homes are the central part of our CPH Village concept – a city-platform where we explore a new way to live as a young person with emphasis on community and convenient services.”

cph-container-indenfor

FOTO: Anders Brinckmeyer

Pioner : Was it difficult to start your company?

Michael: “With no money, little experience and a limited network, it’s taken a long time for us to come to this point where we can see the clear outlines of commercial success. It’s already been 2,5 years since we started CPH Containers. Luckily we have proven particularly good at one thing: borrowing muscle and know-how we didn’t have ourselves to orient people and organisations toward our vision. That – together with a die-hard belief that we will succeed in our mission – has been key to getting to where we are right now.”

FOTO: Anders Brinckmeyer

Pioner : What were the main challenges when you started and now?

Michael: “With our mobile housing concept “CPH Village”, we are treading new paths and no legal practices exist to support our idea in Denmark. Page one of every business textbook says: drop your idea if you need to change the law. But we went ahead and have actually been spending a tremendous amount of time lobbying for new legal practices that can open up our concept. We are in the final weeks of this work and we are excited. Currently, the outlook for a positive result is good. But with politics there is always a risk. Worst case is that we have to move the entire concept across the border to Sweden where legal practices already exist.”

FOTO: Anders Brinckmeyer

Pioner : Have you tested your concept on your users – in this case the students?

Michael: “We are launching our first CPH Village in 2017. Here 250 young people will be able to live in an inspiring place by the Copenhagen waterfront. In forming the concept we have had dialogue with a lot of students and we have had beta users test the quality and design of our homes. The initial response has been overly positive, so we can’t wait to launch full scale.”

FOTO: Anders Brinckmeyer

Pioner : How can students sign up to your containers?

Michael: “Registration for the first CPH Village will open in the spring of 2017.”

Pioner : The containers are currently only for students – why is that? Are you considering expanding the concept to other types of users?

Michael: “We have focused on students for a number of reasons. First of all, students are a group of people with low monthly income and as such are more troubled by the rapidly increasing rent prices. Today in Copenhagen, you can rent a small room without a shower or kitchen for 6.000-7.000 kr. Adding food and other living expenses and you are well over the budget for most students. Another reason is that students are used to living on limited 3-5 year contracts while studying. This fits well with our concept of moving around town and possibly to another region or country in the future. Finally, we believe that students will be very good at creating life and activity at the sites where we set-up CPH Village. This also benefits landowners, who are one of our key stakeholders. We see our members as urban pioneers who will help define how the city uses its vacant areas. It is not unlikely that we will target other groups of people in the future. We believe that everyone should have access to a home that is affordable and sustainable.”

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Northside Festival går mod nye bæredygtige højder

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NorthSide Festival går hvert år mod nye højder inden for bæredygtighed. Men gør publikum også? Vi besøgte festivalen den 17.-19. juni i år og satte os for at undersøge sagen. Se hvad vi fandt ud af i filmen herunder.

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Over 30.000 mennesker er mødt op til tre dages festival i Ådalen i Aarhus d. 17.-19. juni 2016. Iggy Pops nøgne, appelsinhudsbeklædte overkrop omfavner taknemlige festivalgæster på forreste række, Sigur Rós kyler trommesættet ud over scenekanten og Puscifer har hyret professionelle kvindelige brydere til at kæmpe i en stor ring på scenen. Alt er tilsyneladende i den skønneste orden på NorthSide.

Men da røgkanonerne bliver slukket for et øjeblik, tegner der sig et mystisk billede. Der er næsten ikke et tomt plastikkrus eller et cigaretskod i sigte på jorden. I madboderne er der økologimærker over det hele, og rundt omkring på festivalpladsen står der special-designede skraldespande til forskellige typer affald. Der er noget på færde.

NorthSide satte sig i 2011 for at blive Danmarks mest bæredygtige festival – og de har ikke ligget på den lade side siden da.

NorthSide er et laboratorie

Det er ejerne af festivalen, der har ønsket, at der skulle være et stort fokus på bæredygtighed, og derfor har NorthSide taget kampen op for at blive så bæredygtigt et event som muligt, et skridt ad gangen.

”Det var rigtig flotte ambitioner for nogle, der ikke vidste særligt meget om bæredygtighed”, fortæller Anne Jensen, som er kommunikationschef og ansvarlig for bæredygtighed på NorthSide, ”og der har været rigtig meget trial and error”, siger hun.

”Men vi er gået rigtig meget i dybden med nogle ting”, fortæller hun. ”Hvis vi siger, vi vil det her, så gør vi det også”.

NorthSide hyrede i 2011 bæredygtighedsbureauet WorldPerfect til at hjælpe festivalen med at løfte opgaven. I det hele taget er mange af de bæredygtige initiativer på NorthSide baseret på et tæt samarbejde med forskellige partnere. Og så har man i øvrigt prøvet at lære en hel masse fra andre festivaler og events fra hele verden, og ikke mindst af egne erfaringer år for år.

Foto: northside.dk

Men som man står der på græsset og ser hele showet gå op i lys og røg hen over en lang weekend, kan man godt undre sig: Er det virkelig besværet værd at bruge så meget energi på at gøre noget bæredygtigt, der næsten er ovre, før det er begyndt? Og som Anne Jensen selv siger: ”Vores lille festival er jo ikke det, der vælter verdens ressourceforbrug”.

Når NorthSide vil være bæredygtig, handler det ikke kun om, at festivalen i sig selv skal være god ved miljøet.

”Det er faktisk en del af vores politik, at vi gerne vil være med til at arbejde for en mere bæredygtig dagsorden i Danmark, fordi vi har en platform”, forklarer Anne Jensen. ”I og med at vi er en festival, der løber af stablen på tre dage, hvor vi har 30.000 mennesker samlet, så har vi mulighed for at påvirke nogen på en positiv måde på et sted, hvor de jo er kommet frivilligt og er glade og for at søge oplevelser og inspiration. Så det hele er på den positive klinge. På den måde er settingen jo også oplagt til at prøve noget nyt og eksperimentere”, siger hun.

”Det vigtigste ved det her arbejde er, at NorthSide kan blive en inspiration”, bekræfter Martin Thim, som er partner i WorldPerfect, da han viser os rundt på pladsen. Men det er ikke kun publikum, der skal inspireres. Det skal NorthSide også selv. Festivalen er nemlig også en platform for NorthSides egen læringsproces, for bæredygtig innovation generelt og for udvikling af nye partnerskaber omkring bæredygtige løsninger for virksomheder og for kommunen.

Hvis man lige skal sluge den sidste sætning, kan man passende skylle den ned med noget af den søde, ufiltrerede drik, der løber fra ølhanerne på NorthSide. Det er nemlig den økologiske øl, Tuborg Rå, som blev lanceret på NorthSide i 2015. Og det er netop et eksempel på et af NorthSides mange partnerskaber omkring det store bæredygtighedsprojekt.

”Jeg synes, det er fedt det der med at være med til at udvikle nogle produkter, som faktisk i dag står på alle hylderne i alle butikkerne, og som er blevet taget så godt imod”, fortæller Martin Thim begejstret. ”Da den blev lanceret her i 2015, havde de 40.000 liter med, som røg på festivalens anden dag, og så måtte vi nøjedes med den normale øl bagefter. Men det har de så lært af, så nu er der nok til hele festivalen. Jeg synes, det er fedt med de der trial and error-ting, og det er også meget fedt at selv et stort selskab som Tuborg kan falde på røven over, hvor meget økologisk øl folk faktisk gerne vil drikke”, fortæller Martin Thim.

Men hvis NorthSide virkelig vil være så bæredygtig, hvorfor er der så ikke kun økologisk øl i hanerne?

Det er ifølge Martin Thim, fordi de på NorthSide arbejder med en trappe-model, hvor man tager ét skridt ad gangen. ”Om vi når 100 % økologisk øl på to eller fem år, det synes jeg egentlig ikke gør den store forskel. Det er mere bevægelsen derhen, der er det interessante”, forklarer han.

Og NorthSide kommer længere og længere for hvert år. For eksempel kunne de garantere minimum 90 % økologi i madboderne i 2016 i forhold til 60 % i 2015 og kun 30 % i 2014.

Siden 2013 har der været nedskrevet en bæredygtighedsstrategi år for år, så de hele tiden sørger for at lære af deres erfaringer, og i januar 2016 lavede de for første gang en offentlig bæredygtighedsrapport.

Blandt andet på baggrund af erfaringer fra NorthSide har WorldPerfect udgivet en bæredygtighedsguide til events, som de kalder ”Aarhus Sustainability Model”, og som bliver brugt på ti specifikke projekter for Aarhus Kulturhovedstad 2017. Til oktober tager Martin Thim til Bruxelles for at præsentere modellen på EU-konferencen ”Open Days for Cities and Regions”, og han regner da også med, at de skal inspirere hele verden på et tidspunkt.

Vil vise at det hænger sammen

Vi vil rigtig gerne kunne vise, at bæredygtighed og økonomi hænger sammen

Siger Anne Jensen

For eksempel er det jo sådan, at hvis man er god til at sortere affaldet, så kan man bringe udgifterne ned, fordi man ikke skal betale ligeså meget for at komme af med affaldet. Og så giver det, ifølge Anne Jensen, rigtig god mening.

Sortering og genanvendelse af affald er derfor også en af de helt store projekter på NorthSide.

Sammen med WorldPerfect og affaldsselskabet MiljøTeam indførte de i 2015 affaldssystemet ”Rebox”, med lækkert designede skraldespande til forskellige typer affald, der har stået på pladsen de sidste to år. På pladsen bliver der sorteret i 6 fraktioner. Man har ikke ment, at man kunne kontrollere mere end det på selve pladsen. Backstage i produktionsområdet sorterer man dog i hele 12 fraktioner, der også inkluderer metal, olie og træ og andre typer affald, som publikum normalt ikke er i besiddelse af.

Som et resultat af det mener de, at det i år er lykkedes at få sorteret omkring 60 % af alt affald på festivalen.

Fokusset på affaldssortering og genanvendelse har faktisk skabt en meget interessant adfærdsændring blandt de frivillige på festivalen, fortæller Martin Thim. Det er nemlig blevet rigtig populært at være frivillig på festivalens affaldsområde bag scenerne.

Derudover indførte de også sidste år en ambitiøs pantordning. Faktisk så ambitiøs, at den ikke bare indbefatter plastikkrus, dåser og kander, men også pant på ting som regnslag og cigaretpakker. Og så kan man bytte et plastikkrus fyldt med cigaretskodder til en øl.

Og det er nok forklaringen på, at tæppet af cigaretskodder og plastikaffald – man jo ellers kan forvente at støde på til sådan en festival – er erstattet af noget, der nærmere leder tankerne hen på en veltrimmet villakvartersforhave.

Men det er ikke kun på affaldsområdet, at NorthSide har sat sig for at vise, at det kan hænge sammen.

”Der, hvor vi er nået længst, det er på maddelen, hvor vi har nået at runde 90 % økologi i samtlige madboder. Og der er vi faktisk uden sidestykke den festival, der er nået længst med det”, fortæller Martin Thim. Til sammenligning havde Roskilde Festivals madboder en målsætning om 75 % økologi i madboderne i 2016.

Det har man blandt andet opnået ved at lave en økonomisk gulerod for stadepladsholderne: Jo højere procent økologi, der er i maden, desto lavere er procenten af fortjenesten, der skal betales tilbage til NorthSide. Og det er altså noget, kokke kan forstå”

Siger Martin Thim

Det giver mening, synes Anne Jensen. ”Det, man ellers får at vide, det er jo, at det er dyrt, hvis man skal gøre det hele økologisk. Så den prøvede vi at vende om.”

Og opbakningen til økologiprojektet blandt stadepladsholderne er tilsyneladende også steget.

Da NorthSide begyndte at arbejde med bæredygtighed i 2011, hørte Martin Thim et af de største suk, han har hørt i sit liv fra ”Burger Madsen”, der laver burgere på festivalen. For det kunne da bare ikke være mere uinteressant. Men nu sælger Burger Madsen faktisk en 100 % økologisk burger på festivalen.

Vi taler med Jakob Nusbaum fra Gourmensch, der er midt i arbejdet med at lave sprøde svær over åben ild, for at høre, hvad han egentlig mener om NorthSides bæredygtighedspolitik.

”Jeg synes, det er et fantastisk projekt, og jeg synes, det er en fed linje, de lægger”, fortæller han. ”Så det er jeg super glad for at være en del af”.

Bæredygtighed i 360 grader

Men hvad handler alt det der økologi på NorthSide om? Hvorfor egentlig økologi? Det behøver jo ikke betyde, at det er bæredygtigt.

Man har valgt at prioritere økologien højt, men NorthSide forsøger stadig at skabe bæredygtighed hele vejen rundt. Og det strækker sig langt ud over både affaldssortering og økologi.

Foto: northside.dk

Man har blandt andet prøvet at sørge for, at alle festivalens partnere selv skal købe bæredygtigt ind. Det vil for eksempel sige, at alt træ som udgangspunkt skal være FSC-godkendt. FSC er en international non-profit organisation, der vurderer bæredygtigheden af træ- og papirprodukter med henblik på miljømæssig, social, og økonomisk ansvarlighed. FSC Danmark har også været med til at bekræfte, at den nye bæredygtige emballage, der blev indført på festivalen i år, nu også var reelt bæredygtig.

Vi prøver at samarbejde med nogle, der er klogere end os

Siger Anne Jensen

Siden 2015 har fødevareBanken desuden samlet overskudsmad ind til trængende i Aarhus. Sidste år var det hele 940 kg mad, der blev givet videre på den måde.

Som et andet initiativ har NorthSide i flere år opfordret publikum til at gå eller cykle til festivalpladsen. I 2015 lykkedes det utroligt nok at få hele 93 % til at følge den opfordring. Men det er faktisk det letteste i verden, fortæller Martin Thim. Man skal nemlig bare lade være med at lave parkeringspladser.

Men det er ikke alle udfordringer, man kan løse helt så let.

Der skal energi og kræfter til at dække de sidste procenter

Det er ikke alt, der foregår på NorthSide, der er bæredygtigt endnu. For at løse de udfordringer, der er, satser NorthSide på at skulle indlede flere nye samarbejder. ”Det er ikke gratis at udvikle de her ting”, fortæller Martin Thim, ”og vi kan ikke bære det selv”.

For eksempel skal der strøm til, når der afholdes festival i Ådalen, og det er specielt på energiområdet, at NorthSide halter. Det er primært, fordi der ikke ligger fast strøm i Ådalen, så infrastrukturen er simpelthen ikke på plads til, at man kan anvende bæredygtig energi. Derfor skal der hives generatorer ind på pladsen, så den øredøvende musik kan flyde ud fra scenerne på pladsen. Og det er jo trods alt det, festivalen handler om.

Der arbejdes hårdt på at finde løsninger på energiproblemet. I 2016 kørte festivalen for første gang et lille projekt med vindenergi. Det dækker kun ca. 7 % af det samlede energiforbrug, men det er en måde at få sat nogle initiativer i gang på.

I mellemtiden prøver man at begrænse brugen af generatorerne ved for eksempel at slukke for strømmen på festivalpladsen om natten.

NorthSide har også kigget lidt på biodiesel 2.0, som er lavet af organisk affald, og som faktisk skulle kunne sænke CO2-udledningerne med hele 90 %.

Indtil videre lyder det dog til, at problemet ikke vil blive løst lige med det samme. Men Martin Thim er alligevel fortrøstningsfuld.

Denne her produktudvikling og det med at bruge festivalen som en innovationsplatform og en platform for at lancere nye produkter, det tror jeg, der er rigtig mange virksomheder, der godt kan se det interessante i. Og hvis man kan løse energiproblematikken ved store events, så tror jeg faktisk også, at man har en temmelig nice business plan

Siger Martin Thim

Nu er publikum taget hjem for at samle energi til næste år, og Ådalen er genopstået som en tom græsslette, der skuer ud over Aarhus by. Men mon ikke både festivalgæsterne, NorthSide og deres partnere er gået derfra med nye erfaringer og inspiration, efter NorthSide endnu en gang har vist, hvad man faktisk kan, hvis man virkelig vil bæredygtigheden på trods af udfordringerne.

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  • NorthSide er en kommerciel musikfestival, der er ejet af Brian Nielsen og Flemming Myllerup i partnerskab med Mads Sørensen fra Beatbox Entertainment og den tyske festivalkoncern FKP Scorpio. Festivalen startede i 2010 som et endagsarrangement i Tangkrogen i Aarhus for ca. 5.000 mennesker. I 2011 flyttede NorthSide til Ådalen og udvidede til to dage, og i 2015 udvidede festivalen til de nuværende tre dage.

Pioner in Philly: Micro-crowdfund your way out of homelessness

Dan Treglia (to the left) and Andrew Siegel are the managing partner and founding partner of Streetchange Philly.

In 2015 more than 500.000 people lived on the streets in America. This is a shockingly high number that illustrates the raising inequality in America. It makes one ask how can we get out of this predicament? For two young academics living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the answer is an instant-donation app called Streetchange Philly, which enables donations for specific items for homeless people. Pioner went to Philadelphia to have a closer look at the idea that might change the way we think about giving to the homeless.

BY MARIE LETH HANSEN

We all know the feeling of walking past a homeless person that we wish to help but we continue walking to avoid the potential awkward moment such a situation could put some of us in. How much should we give? That awkward moment when we give the money but make sure not to touch the homeless person’s hand. What do we say when we hand the money? Did we give enough? “He will probably just use the money on drinking, cigarettes or something worse!” We create plenty of excuses for not giving to the homeless on the streets even though we can easily afford to.

“The idea is to make a targeted donation so you can see who you are helping, read their story and see what item you are contributing money to,” says Dan Treglia, research fellow at the School of Social Policy and Practice at University of Pennsylvania and managing partner of Streetchange Philly.

Andrew Siegel, Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychiatry at University of Philadelphia and the founder of the app explains: “It is up to the user of the app if you want to make a five dollar donation for a new toothbrush and paste or 100 dollars for a health or job program for example, says Andrew and Dan takes over:”Part of what I like about Streetchange is the connection of short term and long term donations while at the same time it provides a way to overcome a social barrier,” continues Dan Treglia.

“The way it works is that each homeless person in the program is given a small Bluetooth device by the local community center. At the same time a user has downloaded the app from App Store. When the user walks near by a homeless person on the street, a notification is shown on the user’s smartphone. Then the user can donate to those specific items the homeless person needs at that moment. When the item is fully funded the local community center purchases the item and the homeless person has to pick it up at that center. In this way we make sure the money is only spent on that specific item. At the same time we get the homeless person in contact with the social system at the community center.”

Source: www.streetchangephilly.org

“It all started two years ago, one year before I meet Dan.” says Andrew who is a medical school graduate who moved to Philadelphia to work at the University of Pennsylvania four years ago. “I started to notice homeless people asking for money on the streets of Philly. I realized it was a problem and that I wanted to help out. But I realized that there was no options to make long term donations for homeless people.” . He started a brainstorm process with a group of friends, and after a few rejected ideas, they decided to go with the app. However, he soon realized that he would need assistance to implement the idea. “I contacted a professor from the School of Social Politics and Practice here at University of Pennsylvania and asked if she knew someone ideal for this project. Then she recommended Dan.” Dan was a perfect match for him and the project with a background from working in the social welfare field. Dan was at the time doing his PhD and he knew he wanted to work with inequality and had earlier worked at a homeless shelter in New York City. The two partners’ backgrounds and educations are obviously very different. But according to the two entrepreneurs, these differences are exactly what make their small team strong.

Users donate to specific items or services the homeless person needs.

However, they quickly realized that there are limits for a medical school graduate and a social welfare student. None of them had developed an app or a creative project like this before. “First of all we contacted an app develop company to help with designing and programming the app,” says Dan and elaborates: “We knew we had to reach out to someone who knew more about the technicalities than us. That is why we also looked for help to develop the first prototype in a computer science class here at the University of Pennsylvania.”

It was a huge advantage for the two to develop a project like this at a university as it gave them access to competences within a wide range of fields. However, the two partners were facing serious obstacles in the beginning. ”We didn’t have any money. So we decided to seek funding, and this led us in contact with the Barra foundation which is an organization that invests in innovative community change projects in Philadelphia,” says Andrew. With funding from the Barra Foundation and help from the app development company, the small team was able to develop a second more functional prototype for the app, which they now are testing and redesigning.

Right now the app is in its early stage, so we still have a lot of unanswered questions. Our main concern is the homeless people’s response. Will they embrace it? Will they feel comfortable using it? What will the public’s response to the app be? And finally will it make a difference for the homeless people? These questions can only be answered when the app is put to market

Says Andrew.

“Now that we have a prototype for the app, we need to start the PR and marketing work. That is a completely new challenge to overcome. We need to make people aware of the app,” says Dan. The partners plan to use all communication channels if the budget allows it; social media, TV, and radio.

Users can read the personal stories of each homeless person they wish to help.

Hopefully, you may wonder if and how you can contribute to the project to help Dan and Andrew?

First of all the project needs people with graphic competences to better promote the app. In general Dan and Andrew welcome all reflections, opinions and help: “For us it is interesting to know how the situation with homeless people is in Denmark. The Danish system is fundamentally different than the American, so for us it is interesting to hear what Danes see as challenges about homelessness in Denmark,” says Andrew. As the project is still new, the two partners also want to hear from you if you have done any fundraising; “How have you made the fundraising successful? Sometimes you can be too deep in the process so you don’t notice something that could be obvious to others” says Dan. If you happen to have any advice for the Streetchange app Dan and Andrew are looking forward to get in touch with you.

The Streetchange team recommends you to take action if you are considering starting your own social project or initiative. “Think about your social circle, who do you know and who might have knowledge and expertise that you don’t have in a particular area. This could take your idea to the next level. Don’t be afraid to reach out, even to the people you don’t know. And most importantly, know your limits – never be afraid to ask for help.” says Andrew Siegel.

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