In 2023, in the US alone there were about 653,100 people per night experiencing homelessness (Office of Policy Design and Research, 2023). This is the highest number of homeless people since this organization started collecting data in 2007. Out of these people, 6 out of 10 were experiencing sheltered homelessness, where they had a shelter to sleep in for the night, and 4 out of 10 were “experiencing unsheltered homelessness in places not meant for human habitation” (Office of Policy Design and Research, 2023). Homeless people often sleep in places like abandoned buildings, parks, or cars (NAEH, 2023). Sometimes homeless people sleep on outdoor benches. However, recently there has been an increase in “hostile architecture”, or architecture aimed at discouraging people from sleeping or spending long amounts of time there (Bocchialini, 2019) This includes spikes or rails being placed along a bench to make it very difficult to sleep there, benches that have a slope to them so they are not able to be used for long periods of time, large boulders in places where homeless people might camp out, and other designs that make infrastructure more difficult to use.
City officials claim that this hostile architecture is meant to minimize crime and loitering (Neighborhood Design Center, 2023) but in reality these designs reduce the quality of life for an already hurting and needy group of people. It will not make homeless people go away, it will simply make it harder for them to find a place to sleep for the night. Advocates of hostile architecture also point to the fact that when offered assistance or housing options, many homeless people refuse (Coughlin-Bogue, 2023). However, this is largely due to the individual’s negative experience with shelters in the past or not feeling safe within group shelters. According to Tobias Coughlin-Bogue(2023) of the Real Change magazine, the answer is tiny homes. He argues that when people are offered a home with privacy and security they will take it. Of course, there will always be debates about how much assistance should be offered to homeless people, how long they should be able to stay in assistance housing, and so forth. However, I believe that if someone has a warm, safe place to live, they will be more well equipped to get a job and afford a place of their own.
Hostile architecture not only affects homeless people, but it is also harmful to people who are disabled or elderly and need a comfortable place to sit down. The New York City subway has recently removed many of their benches where people would be able to sit while waiting for a train. Specifically, in Moynihan Train Hall, there are very few options for seating outside of food courts for paying customers (Pandey, 2022). In fact, if you try to sit on the floor, security guards will ask you to stand up (Murphy, 2023). This public train station used to be a great place for people to come in and be protected from the elements. Now it is blatantly telling people not to stick around.
Instead of using resources to install hostile architecture that deters homeless people, cities should instead be focusing on implementing programs to give them another place to sleep and helping them get jobs to support themselves. While programs such as these do exist, there is still a major need for more to be done in these areas. Hostile architecture is simply trying to cover up a problem instead of finding the underlying causes and providing a solution. People with low incomes, people with health problems, those escaping domestic violence and abusive relationships, and those in minority groups are all more likely to experience homelessness (Hueston, 2020). Also susceptible are those struggling with addiction, mental health issues, and job loss (Madzima, 2024). Cities need to use their resources to care more for people who are struggling with these issues and provide more support by implementing more programs that can help people get out of situations like addiction and abuse. By doing this, cities can fix the problem they are trying to solve with hostile architecture.
Sources:
McFadden, C. (2020, November 22). 15 examples of “anti-homeless” hostile architecture common to cities. Interesting Engineering. https://interestingengineering.com/culture/15-examples-of-anti-homeless-hostile-architecture-that-you-probably-never-noticed-before
Office of Policy Design and Research. (n.d.). 2023 ahar: Part 1 - pit estimates of homelessness in the U.S. 2023 AHAR: Part 1 - PIT Estimates of Homelessness in the U.S. | HUD USER. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/ahar/2023-ahar-part-1-pit-estimates-of-homeless
NAEH. (2019, January 9). Exploring the crisis of unsheltered homelessness. National Alliance to End Homelessness. https://endhomelessness.org/blog/exploring-crisis-unsheltered-homelessness/
Pandey, M. (2022, August 10). NYC’s public spaces are becoming increasingly hostile toward homeless people. City & State NY. https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2022/08/nycs-public-spaces-are-becoming-increasingly-hostile-toward-homeless-people/375534/
Hueston, L. (2020, June 3). What causes homelessness?. National Alliance to End Homelessness. https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-causes-homelessness/
Madzima, R. (2024). Causes of homelessness : Resources : How we help. Arlington Life Shelter. https://arlingtonlifeshelter.org/how-we-help/resources/causes-of-homelessness.html
Coughlin-Bogue, T. (2023, January 11). Service refusal is not a myth, but it is surrounded by them | Jan. 11-17, 2023 | real change. Real Change. https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2023/01/11/service-refusal-not-myth-it-surrounded-them
Murphy, T. (2023, January 3). Monster of 2022: Moynihan Train Hall and the hostile architecture ethos. Mother Jones. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/01/monster-of-2022-moynihan-train-hall
Bocchialini, M. (2021, March 29). The growth of hostile architecture: How developments in urban design are exacerbating social injustice - A-ID. A. https://a-id.org/the-growth-of-hostile-architecture-how-developments-in-urban-design-are-exacerbating-social-injustice/
Understanding hostile architecture: The cause and effect of restricting public space. The Neighborhood Design Center. (n.d.). https://ndc-md.org/news-and-stories/understanding-hostile-architecture-the-cause-and-effect-of-restricting
2 comments:
The topic of hostile architecture is really interesting to me, and it always seemed quite unfair for people to be implementing it to cover up a city's problems with homelessness instead of actually addressing those problems. I looked into it a bit myself and found out about a way people resist against it called chair bombing. According to this website (https://cargocollective.com/popupinfrastructurewrl/chair-bombing), the practice involves putting chairs in public spaces so people have places to sit, and I commend its creativity in protesting against hostile architecture.
No way !! I wrote about hostile architecture too!! It's a very interesting subject; the use of so much funding to be put towards something that is rather unhelpful and even harmful to so many people. Your use of statistics in the beginning really puts things into perspective. The amount of people experiencing homelessness or that need temporary shelter is staggering and should be looked at as something to help rather than something to hide away with hostile architecture.
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