Rough Sleepers To Take Refuge in Davos

A photograph shows a general view of the resort of Davos, on the opening day of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on January 16, 2023. - FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

On Jan. 15-19, 2024, Davos, the Swiss ski town home to the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) will play host to a group of rough sleepers.

Andrew Funk, CEO of Homeless Entrepreneurs, will join Freedom X’s Sir Marco Robinson, businessman Simon Miln, and communications consultant James Melville in the Great Sleep Out.

They will pack their woollen socks in preparation to camp out in a tent where temperatures can dip to minus 20 degrees Celsius while the globalists are tucked into their thousand-thread count Egyptian sheets layered with hand-crafted eiderdowns.

The Great Sleep Out was created in 2018 by Andrew Funk, an entrepreneur who has experienced homelessness and thus wants to help others out of this situation. His aim is to showcase the vast cavern between the homeless and the extravagance entertained in Davos, where many fly in on private jets to discuss the perils of climate change and argue for vaccine mandates and central bank digital currencies.

A photograph shows a sign of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the alpine resort of Davos on the opening day of the annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 16, 2023. Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

Spotlight to the Backdrop

During the five-day WEF, prices in Davos skyrocketed. Last year, a salad and chips cost $60, according to New York Times reporter David Gelles’ Twitter account, but with inflation at 2.2 percent it could be even higher this year.

Studio apartment rents are around US$15,000 (A$23,400) per night, and hotdogs are just under US$50. The price of admission itself can cost as much as US$250,000, Bill Browder, CEO of Hermitage Capital, told Sky News Australia.

This overpriced opulence is prominent in Davos, and when used as a backdrop to promote homelessness, the glaring inequality becomes more tangible, according to Mr. Melville. While Mr. Miln told the Epoch Times that hailing from Scotland, with its inclement weather, gave him and Mr. Melville an advantage over their counterparts, sleeping rough in Davos would be difficult but incredibly important in raising awareness for the homeless.

“The main goal of the Great Sleep Out is to reverse the trend of increasing homelessness while building partnerships, growing our community, and raising funds for our programs to promote a change in the status quo so more organizations and governments focus on empowerment-based solutions,” Mr. Melville told the Epoch Times.

While highlighting the colossal cavity between wealth and poverty in Davos is virtuous, will those holding the $250,000 entry tickets be more focused on the climate change agenda than homelessness?

Mr. Melville said many who have attended Davos have shown interest in empowering people out of homelessness and poverty.

He told The Epoch Times these have included a local employee at Ochsner Sport, who lent Mr. Funk a sleeping bag when his bag got lost on the train; Toby Plüss, a local entrepreneur, who provided Mr. Funk and Mr. Robinson with warm local food; Jimmy Wales, an American–British Internet entrepreneur, webmaster, and former financial trader, who co-founded Wikipedia; and will.i.am, an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer.

Growing Homelessness Crisis

Solving this dire problem is especially important as homelessness is on the rise globally. The United Nations has stated there are around 1.6 billion people living in poor housing worldwide, and there are around 15 million people going through forced evictions each year.

In Switzerland, there are around 2,200 homeless people, with a further 8,000 at risk of losing their homes because of the increasing cost of living, according to the Federal Housing Office (OFL).

In the winter of 2020-21, 23 homeless people in Germany died because of freezing temperatures. In the U.S., 700 homeless people die from hypothermia each year.

While Australia doesn’t suffer such temperatures, homeless is still a huge problem. There has been a 34 percent increase in rough sleepers in New South Wales (NSW) over the past year, according to the 2023 NSW Street Count. Byron Bay, akin to Davos on the beach, now has the highest number of homeless people in the state after overtaking the City of Sydney in 2023.

Australia had almost 123,000 homeless in 2021, which was approximately 6,000 more than in 2016. There are around 35,000 homeless in NSW, with almost 10,000 having some form of employment.

A homeless man is seen sleeping on a park bench in Sydney, Australia, on March 26, 2020. Jenny Evans/Getty Images

Taking Action

Homeless Entrepreneur and Freedom X have helped many homeless from around the world. One of these was Tony Collins, an Australian chef living in Nice, France. After contacting the Helpline and Voices program, he found a job and was able to stop living on the street.

Sir Marco Robinson, who knows first-hand what it is like to be homeless, has organised for 52 people to be taken off the streets during COVID. The homeless helpline he has set up connects homeless people with local resources to empower them out of homelessness. Mr. Robinson will be raising money to send ten homeless people to Davos in the hope that their voices will be heard by the globalists.

Mr. Funk said that as the cost of living crisis rises, many middle-class households are likely to be pushed into poverty. Thus it’s imperative to take action to stop the cold, hunger, and homelessness this winter.

His charity helps homeless people in a number of ways, including re-entering the workforce via a three-step method. This includes assigning a coordinator and nine managers to tutor the person in a variety of fields, from health to housing to financial and legal areas. They then become a tutor themselves, and once they reach independence, they can choose to assist the charity.

Freedom X also offers a mentoring and support program as well as emergency assistance, including food, clothing, navigating forms, and appointments, as well as longer-term assistance with accommodation, education, and job opportunities.

Mr. Funk says that the WEF do not include the people in poverty they are speaking about, and while it is easy to criticise the WEF, he and his colleagues are determined to make a difference to bring about a better solution.