Rebecca Kaplan was reading an old article about hurricanes when she got the idea.

The violent wind storms typically aren’t a concern for the Oakland, California, City Council president’s constituents, but a creative solution for housing the storm victims caught her eye.

If cruise ships could be used as emergency housing in natural disasters, maybe they could be used to help in Oakland’s emergency: homelessness.

The housing crisis in the city that sits across the bay from San Francisco has resulted in a surge of tent encampments across city sidewalks, under freeway overhangs and in public parks. By the latest count, more than 4,000 people are experiencing homelessness in the city of just over 400,000, up 47% in just two years.