Crisis, the national charity for homeless people, estimate that there are some 400,000 ‘Hidden Homeless’ people in London, a category that includes all those who satisfy the legal definition of homelessness. In this context, it is well known that London has a huge shortage in the provision of appropriate shelter for rough sleepers.
In 2018 Heather Macey (JMP) joined forces with Phil Kerry (New Horizon Youth Centre) to collectively address the huge shortage of short-term emergency accommodation for homeless Londoners. This was the
catalyst for the ‘Hidden Homeless’ design competition. The competition was run by Colander and was developed in collaboration with a wide range of industry experts.
The ‘Hidden Homeless’ initiative invited built environment professionals to challenge the way that the homeless crisis is currently being addressed. Entrants were asked to submit proposals for a holistic development which located short term accommodation solutions for the young homeless alongside a private use such as residential, office or hotel.
Competitors were asked to consider alternative planning policy, business, and social strategies to create a scheme with true community value which was financially viable.
The brief was developed with a number of key industry experts including James Murray (deputy mayor), Jon Snow (broadcaster, Graeme Craig (TFL) and Marc Vlessing (Pocket Living) to ensure that proposals
could be implemented should a viable site become available.
The competition was a great success, 47 entries were submitted with three winners as follows:
First place: MoCo
Second place: RCKa
Third place: Catja De Haas with Office Ten, Erika Suzuki, Anders Luhr and Rosie Bichard
Adam Khan Architects also received a special mention.