At the heart of our first publication in 2021, we place Homeless Entrepreneur, a non-profit organization, which will join our Trusted Suppliers both as a service provider and as a product supplier, promoting the sale of solidarity products.
Homeless Entrepreneur was born in Spain in 2016 and is mainly focused on promoting economic emancipation and poverty reduction through work and active citizenship so that people living in conditions of social exclusion can improve their quality of life.
A unique initiative, with an equally unique creed: for Homeless Entrepreneur each citizen must have the opportunity to participate in their community regardless of age, sex, sexual preference, political alliance, or religious belief.
In Europe, the number of homeless people is constantly increasing for two main reasons: the general increase in the cost of housing and the large flow of illegal immigrants into the territory. The condition of those who live on the streets is very bad: the average Lifespan is thirty years shorter than the average.
This extreme poverty is characterized in certain situations as a withdrawal from the world of social relations, as the impossibility of accessing the traditional help paths guaranteed by social and health services.
The intervention for the homeless must therefore be able to accommodate the complexity of the question in order to produce effective answers. Actions to help homeless people must be aimed at enabling them to choose again, to consider help not only in the classical sense of providing food, clothing, or subsidies but also as a "supply" of elements of awareness and participation in their own life and health.
A homeless entrepreneur (HE) is a person who is willing and able to give the best of themselves but does not have the network, resources, tools, or ongoing support needed to improve their situation.
The HE team then helps homeless people who want to tell their story and get back to work get back on their feet, taking care to stimulate the minds of the homeless so they can play an active role in making the world a better place.
Cooperation is at the core of their DNA: cooperation between communities provides more attention and communication which ultimately generates mutual benefits with less long-term effort. Most people are unaware of the power of cooperation until they see that it works in their favor, and when facing society's most pressing challenges, almost any real solution seems unrealistic.
Learning to cooperate within your own community and with the community of people with work and home could end homelessness on the street in less than 3 years due to the simple decision to have a common goal. By clearly defining a road map and creating a mutual fund, people can solve problems that previously seemed unsolvable if managed properly. The HE community is creating jobs and housing for the homeless, and as the community grows and becomes more cooperative, people who were previously homeless and hopeless are opening up opportunities for other homeless people.
What will we do together?
In this regard, the idea of the project I4SH "Insights 4 Sustainability in Hospitality" was born. The aim of the project is to hold periodic online brainstorming focus group sessions between members of the HE program and members of the ESHClub. Promoting among students together with members of higher education, we also try to break the barriers and social taboos to achieve a more compassionate and receptive society without erroneous and unconscious value judgments. Furthermore, we are committed to finding solutions to complex problems that relate to the Sustainable Development Goals as challenges for the tourism sector.
Considering the tourism sector, during the coronavirus crisis, hostels and hotels were forced to close, which means that one of their assets has been turned into a liability. Moreover, active citizens spend most of their time at home in isolation and many local businesses have to shut down or restrict services; but also for the homeless was not easy, who need resources to turn this tragedy into an opportunity to stop being homeless.
Precisely for this reason, the HE team implements the Homeless Hostels Work Housing program, which is designed to transform a responsibility in the tourism sector into a resource for dealing with the homeless.
Thanks to Homeless Hostels Work Housing, local administrations have the possibility to use to exploit their current network, resources, and tools and adds value to both parties, both the people they receive and the support, to help homeless people leave the street and return to work.
Another of Homeless Entrepreneur's many programs is The HELP Program, which provides a support pathway to independence through incentivizing employment opportunities and fostering entrepreneurial activities. It is a holistic one-year program that targets poverty, works in conjunction with the Homeless Hostels Work program or already existing housing programs in order to create sustainable change via active citizenship, community, and life purpose.
As we know, Spain has 3.4 million houses which are currently empty. Reason to believe that smart cities and a mutual fund dedicated to achieving these certain goals will accelerate the process of creating job opportunities and filling all those empty homes.
We are grateful for this collaboration, as it will be a great reason for improvement and the achievement of important objectives, which includes not only the ESHClub team but also the interns and all those who, like us, are committed to maintaining their principles and sustainable values.
Every single action counts to get the homeless off the streets. Let's add a new resolution to the new year and end homelessness together.