'This could be a lifesaver': Homeless pods equipped with heart monitors open for Christmas

Normally it’s Christmas lights switch-ons that are the grand gatherings during the festive season but the opening of four homeless accommodation pods just days before Christmas shows the reality of homelessness in Britain.

The Salvation Army cut the ribbon on four NAPpad (Night-time Accommodation Project) units in front of a small crowd assembled outside the charity’s lifehouse hostel in St Helens, Merseyside.

The shipping container-style units are equipped with a toilet, a sink and a bed complete with a duvet and pillow. The short-term accommodation’s innovation comes in how it also senses breathing, movement and heart rates, using the information to contact responders if it detects a health issue. 

Myles Chadwick, area operations manager for The Salvation Army’s homelessness services across Merseyside, told Big Issue that the NAPpads could save lives as well as offering a first step off the streets for entrenched rough sleepers.

“There is a homelessness crisis in the UK and indeed in St Helens and we passionately believe that nobody should have to sleep on the streets,” said Chadwick.

He added: “The beauty of the NAPpad is for some individuals who we would consider entrenched rough sleepers, who might not necessarily want to come into a mainstream lighthouse hostel environment, especially if they’ve been out on the streets for a significant period of time.

“The NAPpad can almost be that stepping stone. It’s still outside. It’s not a mainstream building, and it’s almost that psychological preparedness in terms of: they can be in the NAPpad, getting used to life off the streets and then hopefully coming to a mainstream service.”

The Salvation Army first trialled the NAPpads in York back in 2021 and brought the four units, costing around £70,000 according to its manufacturer Protectal Ltd, to St Helens with the help of the local council and rough sleeping initiative funding from central government.

The NAPpad has an energy efficient heating and water system and can keep someone safe using the same amount of energy per night as a domestic light bulb, The Salvation Army said. 

The units can also be moved to different locations to meet local need.

St Helens Council will refer people to stay in the NAPpads with clients able to check in from 6pm to stay until 9pm. The accommodation aims to house people for up to three nights while long-term accommodation is found with room for long stays if necessary.

The NAPpads are dedicated to Darren Mulcahy, a service manager at Salvation Army’s St Helens lifehouse who passed away suddenly in July. A teary dedication at the opening ceremony described the NAPpads as “Darren’s child” with Chadwick insisting: “Today Darren’s wishes came true.”

The NAPpad’s arrival in St Helens comes in the same week that the Labour government pledged to spend £1bn on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in 2025-26 with a renewed focus on prevention.

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Housing secretary Angela Rayner said the investment is intended to “turn the tide” on a homelessness crisis that has run out of control in 2024 both on and off the streets.

The Salvation Army’s director of homelessness services Nick Redmore said the investment was “urgent and welcome” but said homelessness funding must keep up with inflation while local housing allowance rates must hold pace with rent rises to tackle the crisis.

“This investment will provide a much-needed life jacket but if the government is serious about ending homelessness it must go beyond one off emergency injections of funding,” said Redmore following the announcement earlier this week.

In St Helens, Chadwick was clear that while the NAPpads are not likely to solve homelessness in the long-term, they could play a part in meeting immediate growing need on the streets locally. 

“I think it’s really important to note that the NAPpad is not a long-term, forever solution. It’s ultimately to keep people safe, and it is a lifeline for some individual,” said Chadwick.

“If the government were willing to look at that in respect of a short-term solution in the quest of a much longer term goal, then, absolutely, I would love to see NAPpads or NAPpad-like structures all across the United Kingdom, because they’re needed.”

Mark Griffiths, 58, would certainly have welcomed a night at a NAPpad during his 15 years on and off the streets and in and out of prison.

Griffiths has been living at Salvation Army’s St Helens lighthouse since the summer and told the Big Issue that roof overhead is to be valued, especially in the cold winter.

“It’s nice and warm, just what you want: a door to lock,” he said.

“Living on the streets what you’d get is idiots and that’s what a lot of people are scared of. When I lived on the streets I didn’t go and live in built up areas.

“It’s a constant fight against cold. I still do it now, if I walk past someone and they’re just lying on the floor or in a sleeping bag, that cold floor will suck the warmth out of your body, so I tell people to go and get cardboard.”

The people who will spend this Christmas in the NAPpads will feel the difference they can make, Griffiths added.

“It’s a big deal,” he said. “It’s a stepping stone. If I was still on the streets, you wouldn’t have to ask me twice to go in one.”

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