Man proposes to convert cruise ship into homeless shelter

What do you do with an old cruise ship?

According to the last global survey in the year 2005 conducted by the United Nations, there are over 100 million of homeless people worldwide while over 1.6 billion of people lacked proper housing. In the US alone, there were 554,000 homeless people in the United States based from the statistics on the year 2017.

With these staggering figure, it is no doubt that homelessness is a major problem, not only in America, but across the globe as well. Sadly, despite the progress our countries are making, homelessness remains to be an incurable problem of the society.

However, a man from Portland, Maine thought of a unique way to solve the the dire problem. A contractor and entrepreneur named Ken Capron plans to buy an old cruise ship that is no longer in use. The creative entrepreneur is planning to rebuild the entire cruise ship and transform it into an affordable apartment which will be stationed in the city’s port.

Ken Capron thinks that by allowing people to live on the transformed cruise ship, he will be able to create a new floating community and at the same time, provide a new space for the homeless. In addition, Ken Capron also believes that in doing so, he will be able to address the shortage of housing since no land space has to be occupied for the plan to materialize.

“We’re looking at four groups that need housing: the homeless, the low-income, the workers and the immigrants. They also need vocational training and we would offer them on board,” Ken Capron explained in one of his interviews.

The entrepreneur’s plan may sound odd due to its unique nature. But authorities are looking into the plausibility of his idea. In fact, the mayor of the city has released a statement saying that he’s open explore Ken’s sound proposal.

“I have no idea if it’s the craziest idea I’ve ever heard or the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard,” Mayor Ethan Strimling shared his opinion about Ken’s solution in an interview.

As discussed by Ken, the ship will be converted into five different floors. In his plans, each floor can accommodate 100 apartment units. The estimated cost of transforming the cruise ship ranges from $5 million to $10 million.

Ken’s idea may sound preposterous to some, but it sure has a lot of potential. However, aside from its feasibility, it is not easy to look for people who are willing to finance Ken’s unique housing plan.

As of now, Ken has already applied for an independent investigation to find out whether his plan is really plausible. Once his idea has been proven to be feasible, he is set to present his idea before the City Committee. People who have heard about Ken’s out of the box approach to solve homelessness is a mixture have contrasting thoughts about his plans.

One Youtube user left a comment that seemed to approve Ken’s idea. “Not enough help for homelessness. This is Great!!”

On the other hand, another Youtube user had a different opinion about Ken’s proposal, saying, “It’s going to cost more money to maintain that boat then the street shelter ,an your going to put them in the heart of the old Port nasty,how about making a live n work housing were they work an pay rent an have to be rehabilitated.”

What do you think about Ken’s unique way of curing the problem of homelessness in our society? Watch the video below and learn more about Ken’s plans in developing a floating community in order to provide a place for the homeless. And SHARE your thoughts below the comment section.

Photos and Video | News Center Maine