A tiny Italian charity is dreaming big after its prototype for a foldable cardboard tent for the homeless went viral online - with the unwitting help of a local far-right politician. From Japan to Ireland, hundreds of organizations have enquired about the tent designed to keep rough sleepers warm during cold winter nights, since the group posted a video of a handout earlier in January, the charity said.

“We didn’t expect to draw so much interest. We just wanted to show some solidarity,” said Giuseppe D’Alessandro, the tent’s designer who co-founded Napoli 2035, a non-profit to help homeless people, with four friends in 2017. Across Europe, many countries have seen the number of homeless people increase since the 2007 financial crisis amid austerity measures and rising housing prices. There are an estimated 4.1 million homeless people in the European Union.