A London Nonprofit Repurposes Double-Decker Buses for the Homeless

FIVE YEARS AGO, Dan Atkins discovered a homeless 68-year-old man sleeping in the luggage bay of a coach bus. Taking it upon himself to help the man, Atkins, who worked in bus construction, purchased a bus and converted it into a mobile home, where the man ended up living for two years before eventually finding permanent residence.

The experience inspired Atkins to do research into homelessness in the United Kingdom. Alarmed by what he found, he decided to do more to help the vulnerable population.

“Doing research on homelessness in the U.K., it got me thinking that we can do this on a larger scale,” Atkins said.

Atkins is the founder of Buses 4 Homeless, a social-enterprise that refurbishes decommissioned double-decker buses and turns them into spaces for London’s homeless. The project’s goal is to put homeless people through a three-month program that provides them with resources such as vocational training and well-being exercises, Atkins said.

Although Buses 4 Homeless began organizing in 2018, Atkins said momentum started building in January, when the organization raised 27,000 euros from a charity dinner. Later that month, transportation company Stagecoach donated four double-decker buses to the organization, which will be used as the initial buses for the program. Buses 4 Homeless is currently finishing construction of its buses and looking for a fixed site to house the program, with hopes to launch the program in mid-to-late August.

Buses 4 Homeless is emerging at a time when London faces a rise in its homeless population. Between April 2018 and March 2019, 8,855 Londoners were reported as “sleeping rough” for at least one night, according to a report from the Combined Homelessness and Information Network. That’s an 18% increase from the same time period the year before, and is nearly two and a half times the number recorded from the same period in 2009-2010.

Once the Buses 4 Homeless program gets going, it will consist of four buses meant to provide different accommodations for participants. Two of the buses are for shelter and have been fitted with 20 bunk beds each. One bus is outfitted with a dining area and a kitchen to feed the homeless and hold culinary classes. The fourth bus is for learning, and features a computer learning space to teach the homeless vocational skills so they can find employment by the end of the three months.

Before the participants take classes in the learning bus, Atkins said they will first complete sessions with trainers and personal development gurus to help them understand and overcome the core issues that caused them to be homeless.

Atkins is not the first person to refurbish buses for shelter.

In the town of Ipswich, a family opened a double-decker bus for the homeless in 2018, according to the Guardian. However, Atkins said Buses 4 Homeless is different because it plans to provide a holistic program for participants that equips them with skills that set them up for future success.

“It’s all well and good to provide shelter,” Atkins said. “But our program does more than that. We help people overcome the demons they are struggling with.”