Architects have a duty to use their skills to help solve societal problems even if it means thinking beyond designing buildings, ProxyAddress founder Chris Hildrey tells Dezeen in this interview.
British architect Hildrey founded ProxyAddress, a social enterprise that gives people experiencing homelessness a fixed address, in 2018.
"It's about removing potential obstacles"
The system works by virtually duplicating existing addresses and allocating them to people lacking a stable home, enabling them to apply for jobs, bank accounts and social security among other services.
"It's about removing the potential obstacles or stigma and allowing people to be judged on their merit," Hildrey explained.
"They're looking to just get a bunk up onto the ladder and regain their independence, and so that's what we're trying to do." A pilot of the concept conducted between 2020 and 2021 in Lewisham, south-east London resulted in 95 per cent of ProxyAddress users escaping homelessness within six months.
"We went into this expecting 25, 30, maybe 35 per cent of people going through the pilot to end up not being homeless by the end, so it was astounding," Hildrey said.
ProxyAddress is now seeking to test the system in five other areas this year, beginning with a second trial in Glasgow set to kick off in the spring.
ProxyAddress duplicates existing addresses and assigns them to people experiencing homelessness
Hildrey argues that ProxyAddress is an exam...