Understanding design challenges for homeless’ sleeping situation in the US.

The living situations of the unsheltered America homeless vary across America. This paper highlights this difference by comparing two cities: New York City and San Francisco. The author considers the causes of homelessness, difficulty of being shelters, current living situation and the influence of the society. In both cities, the sleeping space has the biggest problems. It is critical and worth to improve. Different from bedding supplies for camping, disaster reliefs and military, bedding for unsheltered homeless people must meet their chronic needs and flexible requirements of changing sites. As in the New York City, the unsheltered homeless people prefer to stay in railway stations or bus stops to keep warm while in San Francisco most of the homeless live on the street, using tents. It is vital for designers to do some research about public transport sites, street management and street cleaning services to help them with sleeping space. When designing, designers need to take some references in terms of privacy design in public space, outdoor design products and temporary housing. Once the solutions meet the needs of a specific locate, designers must consider to make it more universal.