#Berkeley #California #homeless #solidarity #DirectAction
"This artist built a safe space on wheels for homeless Berkeleyans to warm up in.
Stefan Kaiter-Snyder won a citywide 'kindness award' for the mobile warming shelter he stocks with snacks, socks, and lots of coffee.
In late November of 2024, when an atmospheric river drenched the Bay Area, a local welder and artist named Stefan Kaiter-Snyder began handing out tarps to unhoused residents throughout Berkeley.
'I lived in my car for a long time while I was going to school,' said Kaiter-Snyder, 32, who has a degree in sculpture from the California College of the Arts and currently lives in a school bus in Berkeley. 'So seeing people uncomfortable in the winter months sort of affects me.'
But he wanted to do something more than just distribute tarps. And then an idea came to mind: What if he made a mobile shelter, like a covered bus stop on wheels, that he could take to encampments across the city?
'So I made this sort of bus stop on a trailer and was like, Oh shoot! I should serve coffee out of it, I should run a space heater in it, I should keep it stocked with socks and blankets and stuff like that,' he said.
(. . .)
Kaiter-Snyder set to work inside his friend’s workshop, and over the course of two days created what he calls a warming hut. The hut is made of two-by-fours — purchased for him by the homeless advocacy organization Where Do We Go Berkeley — covered with white landscaping fabric and two layers of painter’s plastic, providing shelter from the rain but also allowing plenty of natural light to enter the hut.
'It was important for it to be light and airy, so it doesn’t feel like you’re in a cave when you’re inside of it,' he said.
He mounted the hut atop an 8-foot utility trailer, which he purchased for $200.
On the inside, he made a bench in a circular pattern so people can face each other when they are inside the hut, which can fit up to seven people. He outfitted it with a propane space heater and laid in plenty of supplies, like snacks, warm clothes, dry socks, a first aid kit, hand sanitizer, and lots and lots of coffee."
