Aid programs focusing on helping street children have typically consisted in helping these children abandon street life by engaging in institutional support services that help reintegrate them into their families, society, school system, and culture. However, the traditional institutional setting is often rejected, as it inspires distrust and suspicion among the children, and inevitably affecting their commitment towards the program.

Mobile School, an organization aware of the drawbacks and limitations of an institutional setting, has developed a mobile structure that serves as a portable school and allows to reach out to children directly in their own environment. Portable classrooms consist of four wheel structures of five connected boxes  that slide in and out of each other. The box that is initially one and a half metres long becomes six metres long. The side of the boxes consist entirely of blackboard, to which street teachers can attach exercise cards to read, write, play or draw. The core themes are literacy and numeracy programs, creative therapy sessions, healthcare education and human rights. 

The program has been working primarily with street children in urban areas, children in refugee camps and specific targeted groups, such as street hookers. It has been implemented in several developing countries, including Colombia, Guatemala, Peru and Bolivia. Each school is run by local youth workers and through the interaction between street teacher and target group, it can be moulded to adapt to the environment it is placed in.

Homelessness is a problem that affects many people across the globe, including countries considered to be the wealthiest on the planet. It is estimated that more than one billion individuals are poorly housed and that 100 million of them are literally living on the street. While the causes and solutions to homelessness are complex, there are a number of options available to help fight the problem, such as volunteering, speaking up, engaging in advocacy, contributing in kind and educating.

The innovative and controversial non-profit design competition - shelter in a cart - consisting in designing a cart that could provide shelter and storage, had submissions from 4247 designers and / or organizations from 95 countries. Based on a reality that sees urban homeless use carts to carry their possessions and to collect goods that later they exchange for money, the contest's objective was to design a cart that was not only affordable but accommodated all these functions. Private parties or charity organisations could then produce and donate the carts to help aliviate homelessness.

Detractors of the initiative argue that settling for anything less than safe and secure housing is unacceptable and would result in the institutionalization and normalization of housing practices that don't meet the minimum living standards. However, remaining passive and "respectable" and waiting for authorities and NGOs to magically provide affordable, safe and secure housing for everyone on this planet, is not only utopian but far more offensive than providing an alternative to an existing problem. At the very least, shelter in a cart, holds a communicative value, for it provokes people to talk about homelessness and thus raises awareness on the issue.