To help the homeless, do their laundry

Many people consider access to adequate housing a basic human right — the United Nations does — and yet it is one that an estimated 100 million people around the world do not have.

One of the chronic challenges for homeless people is hygiene, which is critical for staying healthy as well as maintaining self-esteem and finding a job.

That’s where Orange Sky Laundry is stepping in. The mobile laundry service in Australia washes and dries the clothes of homeless people for free.

The organization was started by Lucas Patchett and Nicholas Marchesi in Brisbane in July 2014; it has since spread to most major Australian cities.

Each van is fitted with two industrial washing machines and driers that can clean 20 kilograms of clothes every hour.

Orange Sky Laundry targets areas that are also serviced by food vans so people can eat and talk while waiting for their clothes to be washed.

Orange Sky’s mobile laundromat is just one example of ways government and non-governmental organizations around the world are helping homeless people improve their hygiene.

Here are a few others:

Free showers In Paris, a specially adapted camper van called La Mobil’douche Depaul provides free showers.

A similar service called Lava Mae operates in San Francisco. It has converted decommissioned city buses into mobile bathrooms that can each provide 2,000 showers a week.

Free haircuts Three hairstylists in the Spanish city of Madrid were inspired by an Australian hairdresser to spend their Sundays offering free haircuts to homeless people. While their locks are being trimmed, clients are encouraged to tell their stories, giving rise to the hashtag #UnCorteUnaHistoria (a cut and a story).

Free sanitary products Three advertising interns in London launched an online petition last year calling on the U.K. government to provide free sanitary pads and tampons to women in homeless shelters.