The sleek, clean facilities – with grey walls, white washbasins and a "hi-tech looking" barber's chair – opened two days ago. According to Pope Francis' chief alms-giver, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, the initiative is intended to help the homeless secure jobs and residences, something that is often incredibly difficult if they are perceived as dirty and smelly. Staffed by volunteer barbers, the facilities will be open everyday except Wednesday, when Bernini's famous square is filled with people attending the Pope's general addresses. 

Emerging out of the new Pope's stated imperative to (re)orient the Catholic Church around its poorest constituents, the bathrooms come after the Church recently distributed umbrellas and sleeping bags to the homeless. Additionally, over Christmas, the Church distributed 1,600 phone cards to migrants – chiefly Muslim and from North Africa – on the island of Lampedusa.

Projects like the new bathroom facilities are a great way to address the issue of homelessness. Rather than mere charity, such spaces provide basic sanitation that can help a homeless individual get back on their feet. Unfortunately, public washing facilities are in short supply, worldwide. Many architects and architecture students have attempted to address this problem; we compiled a round-up of some the most exciting projects we've seen here. In addition to a lack of bathrooms, homeless people often face criminalization (for example, in Honolulu) as well as an urban environment that, in some cases, has been specifically designed to make life difficult for them. For information on such exclusionary tactics, check out this article here.