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While some business executives host charity events or take part in sleep-outs to help raise awareness for homelessness, one group has found an aquatic solution.
A group of New Zealand business colleagues are looking at purchasing a 400-bed Italian cruise liner and docking it in Auckland harbour to house the city’s homeless, according to The Guardian.
Christchurch businessman Garry House said the cruise ship shelter is not a long-term solution, but it could help ease pressure for two or three years while longer-term strategies are implemented.
Mr House estimates the cost of purchasing and transporting the cruise liner to New Zealand would be at least NZ$5 million (AU$4.75 million) and it would take a month to travel from Europe to Auckland.
Hurimoana Dennis, the chairman of Te Puea Marae (a Maori meeting house), which houses 37 people in emergency accommodation, fully supported the plan.
"It is obviously a short-term solution but I support any proposal that will get people out of cars and into something warmer and bigger," he said.
"At the moment there is nowhere short-term for people in desperate housing situations to go, and a cruise ship would allow the social agencies to catch up with families and help them while they have a roof over their head."
(Image: The Guardian)
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