At first, it seemed like a wacky campaign promise proposed last month in the spirit of pre-election populism. Now, City Hall appears set to make it happen.

Prague Mayor Pavel Bém is moving ahead with plans to purchase an abandoned freight boat and turn it into a floating shelter on the Vltava River for the city's homeless.

"This solution is fast and financially effective," Bém says.

City Hall is soliciting bids from would-be boat suppliers who will be asked to renovate one of their vessels before turning it over to the city. The mayor plans soon to seek bids from nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) interested in renting and running the shelter. Already, several, including the Salvation Army and Naděje, have expressed interest.

The boat shelter would have 250 beds and include a first-aid room, cafeteria, showers and storage rooms with clothes. Bém has put a 21 million Kč ($970,000) price tag on the enterprise, though the bottom line could change depending on the winning bid.

City Hall says it hopes to have the shelter on the water by February. A combination of city money and government grants is expected to pay for it.

But there are still a host of questions, not least of all is this: Where will the boat be docked? So far, Bém isn't saying.

Memories of last winter

This is the first real solution City Hall has come up with to address the declining number of beds in Prague for the city's 5,000-6,000 homeless.

Currently, there are about 580 beds in homeless shelters citywide.

"The capacity is clearly insufficient," City Hall spokesman Jiří Wolf has said. "The city would need at least 1,500 beds in shelters, plus 300 to 400 more in the winter."

Last winter, the shortage proved to be a major problem as record cold temperatures gripped the city for more than a month, leading City Hall to scramble and erect a tent city on Letná for people who could not find space in shelters.

The tents were up in January and February and provided 700 makeshift beds. It cost the city some 912,000 Kč to maintain.

As temperatures thawed in the spring, City Hall vowed to address the bed shortage so that it would not have to take such measures again this winter. But as of early fall, little had been done. One shelter even closed: one of Naděje's 13 homeless centers, located near the main train station, which did not offer beds but rather daytime social services.

Nevertheless, some local NGOs have given feedback to City Hall. Naděje, for example, served as a consultant while Bém drafted his proposal.

"It seems that under the existing circumstances, a boat would be the only possible and, most of all, fast solution. A boat can serve accommodation purposes for many years," says Ilja Hradecký of Naděje. "However, a full-concept solution would be to have a network of social services spread out across the city."

Pavla Vopeláková of the Salvation Army says, "The boat is only meant to offer beds for the night. Daytime help and social work must continue elsewhere."

In Prague, that's been a harder thing to count on.

Not in our backyard

City Hall has spoken more than once to the need for more services and resources for the city's homeless. But whenever something is suggested, town halls around Prague balk.

District representatives often speak against building more shelters and resource centers downtown because, they contend, that will bring more homeless to the city center. They often suggest building more centers in the suburbs; of course, residents in the suburbs object largely on the same grounds: They don't want a certain element in their neighborhoods.

"All we hear is 'Yes, but why in our district? Take it someplace else,' " Hradecký says. "In past years, always ahead of winter, City Hall looks for a suitable location for the homeless. But once they find a place, district halls have been strongly against the idea."

It's probably too soon to tell whether Bém's floating shelter idea will generate opposition from other districts, though social workers acknowledge that could depend on where the city decides to moor the boat.

More pressing are questions over how safe the shelter will be: Some homeless are known to turn up to shelters drunk or under the influence of other substances, and could pose a risk for a facility that will be on the water.

"You know, risks always exist, no matter what you're doing," Vopeláková says. "But I'm sure this project will come with particular rules, and most of all I don't think drunk persons would be admitted."