German town installs solar-powered 'sleeping pods' for homeless to get through winters

A German city built solar-powered sleeping pods for its 860,000 homeless population during the chilling winters. A group of social activists in the city of Ulm made collective efforts to install sleeping pods called Ulmer Nests for inhabitants without a homestay. The Ulmer Nests project was started under the initiative “Wilhelmsbüro”.

The project was led by leading Ulm companies Bootschaft, Resistance and Sons, and computer scientist Florian Geiselhar to provide for the city’s homeless to sleep in. The pods are constructed out of steel and wood and provide relief against the frosty temperatures to at least two homeless people who can sleep inside. Each pod is provided with a web connection and an alert system for the charity that runs them to provide additional support to the underprivileged and vulnerable people sleeping inside.

According to the German press, the group that installed the creative "nest" solution pods wanted to provide a warm comfortable place to the public during the rough winter months who were often found taking refuge in parks and surrounding areas in the city located 75 miles west of Munich. The pods don the Solar panels on the roof for power and have a radio network to enable communication. Workers at the Caritas Ulm-Alb-Donau charity would be responsible for the cleaning and maintenance of the sleeping pods and would encourage the homeless to visit the ‘nest’. The project was started two years ago by the creative thinkers that discussed the idea on state TV at a show and eventually implemented the plan. 

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City officials 'supportive'

One of the UlmerNest creators, Florian, told Bored Panda that the team has witnessed the outcome that it hadn’t imagined initially as it aimed to help the homeless inhabitants of the city. He added that the charity center was planning to arrange for the overnight guests some hot tea in the morning and snacks. City officials were always very supportive and positive about the project, Florian said, adding that the members had helped a lot to make the project possible. There are a lot of those small moments when working on the Nests out in the city, and people have been coming up to say thank you (homeless and not homeless alike). That also means a lot actually, Florian reportedly said. 

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