The charity Shelter estimates that there are over 300,000 people in the UK who are homeless, a figure that has risen steadily since 2010. This year, the government has announced the introduction of the Homelessness Reduction Act, which requires local authorities to actively seek to prevent homelessness. But over the last few years, these authorities have had their funding consistently cut.

Councils need a solution, one that would be cost efficient as well as actually effective. So, designer and architect Chris Hildrey, currently one of the Design Museum’s Designers in Residence, conceived of an idea to tackle homelessness: ProxyAddress. His design came in response to the museum’s brief of one simple word: “support”.

In order to get jobs or benefits, or even a library card, you need to have an address; a postcode you can write on all the forms you have to fill out. The reason that homeless people often struggle to re-enter society isn’t so much in the absence of a physical home, but in the lack of an address. This is a situation which can be a catch-22 for many people living on the streets.

But countrywide, every borough and every council has unused, unlived-in properties. ProxyAddress aims to take these absent properties and give the addresses to homeless people. ProxyAddress is a database that is SSL-secured and which holds information such as the person’s name, current location and the address they have been allocated. That way, even if the person moves around, their ProxyAddress will always stay the same.

An address allows you to identify with a place, other people and, perhaps most importantly for the homeless community, with the relevant figures in authority. By giving people an address and allowing them a degree of freedom and independence, Hildrey hopes to alleviate the problems that can develop further down the line.

ProxyAddress is moving towards initial trials in London, with a view to then expanding across the UK. If successful, a full release is slated for release towards the end of this year.

Visit ProxyAddress’s website to find out more.