15 Most Inhumane Ways That Cities Try To Fight Homeless People From Sleeping In Public Places
Hostile architecture. You might not be familiar with the term, but you've probably seen it in action. Those spikes on the window ledges, designed to keep the birds away. Or, in a more sinister fashion, things like strategically-placed armrests or rocky floors, cynically installed to ensure that vulnerable people in need of shelter are forced to look elsewhere.
Not only are homeless folks discriminated against directly and culturally, but also structurally too. These exclusionary designs, denying people even the right to find a place to rest, are a stark illustration of our society's collective disregard for basic humanity. Surely we can do better than this?
This heartbreaking list, compiled by Bored Panda, shows some of the most offensive examples of 'anti-homeless' designs, and it will make you ever so grateful for that roof over your head. Because it seems that if misfortune strikes and you should one day happen to lose it, you are most certainly not welcome to try and find a place to sleep on the streets. Scroll down to see what we mean for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments.
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You’ve Got To Be The Worst Kind Of Heartless Twat If You Can Go Around Slashing Homeless People’s Tents
Homeless or not, wanderer or CEO, you simply don't destroy someone else property. This make me so angry.
Someone Installs These Poles To Prevent The Homeless From Sleeping Here, They Find A Solution Anyways
When You’re Inclusive But Still Hate The Poor
An Eyecatching Response To Mumbai’s Homelessness Crisis
Fark, can you imagine accidentally falling on it. They hate the beggars and the homeless so much they create a hard-core public danger.
This Man Removed 'Anti-Homeless' Devices From Benches And Ended In Court
Cut In The Shape Of An Obelisk, They Are Installed On A Private Site In Paris. Imagine A Homeless Man Who Would Lose Balance In The Middle Of This Work Of 'Art'? Or A Child?
The Worst Example Of Anti-Homeless Architecture I've Ever Seen
More Anti Homeless Spikes....so Much For Community Spirit
Anti-Homeless Architecture
Worker: What should we do about the homeless population? Boss: I don't know, put a bunch of dick-shaped green things everywhere. Worker: Won't that look bad? Boss: Add some wierd rocks to it, then!
There Are A Few Different Varieties But They All Serve The Same Purpose
Note: this post originally had 57 images. It’s been shortened to the top 15 images based on user votes.
I think if I owned a business I'd do the same, I don't want it smelling of piss, shit and littered and putting customers off. If your all so angry and disgusted with places that do make it hard for the homeless to sleep in their doorways, invite them to sleep in your gardens, shed, apartment, homes, No... I thought not.
This is something I was thinking the whole time, not meaning to be cruel and whatnot
Bench In Volgodonsk, Russia is not from homeless people, but from drunkards who drink, litter and make noise noisy and nightly. "Bored Panda" check the facts before you "lie" to people.
I’m glad you’re up voted. The homeless problem in certain areas is so much more complex than people think. I tried helping a family member that came to me homeless and it was bad for everyone. Stolen things, cops bringing him home and drugs. It was a no win situation bc there was no answer. It’s sadly why many only get clean or mental help after jail or hospital stays. Try all you want it’s like trying to stop the wind
couldn't agree more!
I hate to say that but I do agree with Tony :(
I think it's fine if it's in front of doorways, but stuff like benches feels needlessly cruel to me.
You have a point tbh.
Agree ! Homeless dudes dont just need a “place to sleep”. They squat the area bringing all junk, used needles, smell of piss and what not with them.
Eh, many Uni students struggle financially, too.
University students and tourists binge drinking also squat areas and whole towns with their noise, smell of piss and vomits, and copulating in parks and corners, but as they have money people tolerate them, or even encourage them. People are a bunch of hypocrites!
I would upvote you more if I could!
It's not "discrimination". It's literally the opposite of that. It's not saying "These specific people can't......" it's putting everybody under the same rules. I GUARANTEE you hypocrites wouldn't like some strangers sleeping on your front porch every night.
Exactly.
Actually I used to encourage a homeless guy to sleep on my stoop in when I lived in SF. I was familiar with him and he chased off creeps that would harass my roommates and I.
I work in social services. I work with the homeless. No, I wouldn't want to have someone living on my porch, I would, however, not chase them off with idiocy like this. I have conversations, I listen, I respect. I receive the same back. I don't have homeless on my porch, but I don't put spikes on them to chase them away, either. There are ways and there are ways.
I understand what you're saying, but not everyone has the time to have a conversation with a homeless person every time they come home. I lived in San Francisco for 18 years and I have had human feces on my outside stairs multiple times. With so many homeless people its just not possible to take the time to have a discussion with every one who is invading your space, even if you had the patience for it, and even if they had the mental capacity to have the conversation with you (they don't always).
Also, we have to bear in mind that these "wonders" (sarcastic) not only chase away homeless people, but every person who may need to rest for a minute. Some of them are even dangerous for any passer-by who may be unfortunate enough to fall on them by accident. There are more and more elderly people in developed societies, but our cities are becoming more and more inhumane for everybody who is not healthy, fit and young. I imagine my elderly parents, with their mobility problems, near these monstrosities, and I feel terrified. These things could seriously wound any person. Those who defend this kind of design should think they will be old one day. I hope they need somewhere to rest for a second and they can't find even a tiny place to sit down!
I have compassion, but as someone who cannot get to my apartment without being accosted by homeless people, without having to step over piles of trash and piles of shit from homeless people I can sympathize with the people who own the property, have to maintain the property and clean up after them. And by accosted, I do not mean begging for money, I mean threatening you for money, having them grab at your personal items, demanding you give them a ride somewhere. I promise this, none of you who complain about this have to daily pick up piles of shit left on your doorstep, have to mop up pools of urine and vomit every single day. Aren't afraid to let your kids go outside alone because they will be groped or verbally assaulted. Not every homeless person is this way, but like everything else in this world a few ruin it for everyone.
This is my experience too, in my small town Canadian neighbourhood. The problem is getting worse and worse and a huge chunk of it is the drugs are getting more and more addictive and making people more and more aggressive. I am tired of being threatened, hearing about my neighbours being threatened. I used to have a lot more compassion than I did, but the literal shit on the sidewalks and the needles everywhere and the threatening behaviour is doing me in.
What we need is help for the poor, not spikes and extra bench handles. Better policies, better approaches, and more programs. There will be more homelessness coming, not less, because of automation and other factors. UBI is one way to help this, there are others though.
Isn't it kinda hypocrite to shame the anti-homeless stuff when most of us here won't even invite a homeless person to stay in our home for a long period of time?
Do you feel you should personally solve every societal problem by bringing it into your home?
@Foxxy - When you say the government needs to find better ways, you're really saying the taxpayer needs to pony up the money to find better ways. And that's the problem. Most people just want tax cuts and they don't want to pay for what's really needed to deal with the problems. This is what you get with your tax cuts.
@no_name - My community has even built "wet" housing, meaning you can stay there even if you're using, and bring your drugs/alcohol with you. But you can't bring stolen stuff, so they still don't want to stay there.
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No, it’s not hypocritical. Having a stranger staying in your own home is completely different to homeless people sleeping in nooks and crannies etc. Where I live most of the time you rarely see any homeless sleeping during the day, they find spaces to sleep at night when the businesses are closed. The governments need to find better ways to prevent homelessness. Not just turn a blind eye at the problem and hope it goes away.
So you're cool with stepping over sleeping bags and mattresses in the entrance to your apartment building? Right.
Let me tell you what I see in my country - there are shelters those poor people can sleep in. But they won't, because they would have to be sober, they cannot smoke in there and they have to clean themselves, so they rather stay on streets all night. There's always a way. Also, we have helping programs - they sell magazines and get half of profit for food or whatever. I meet maybe five or six different people in my city, the rest won't just give a crap, because again - you have to be sober. I'm buying that magazine every month.
In front of businesses is not a public place. That is still owned by a corporation or a person. Just because it is not a home does not mean it is a public place.
I never said homes, I said businesses. Most homeless that don’t have access to shelter sleep in parks, near big shopping centres, etc. Public places.
A Lot of this kind of thing started as anti skateboarders, so you cant rail slide or grind
What do I think? I think that this entire post is bogus. I think the author was looking for something to rail about and decided to twist things to suit his/her purpose.
Fix the reasons that make people homeless and you do not need any of these. And now do not tell me homeless people are those that are to lazy to work. My own experience is that many seem to struggle with physical and mental illnesses, and addiction can be a factor. The price societies pay for NOT including them again is way higher than admited.
The really sad part is the proportion of veterans is outrageous...
John L is right - the rest of you are swallowing the anti-homeless people propaganda.
That’s not really true.
I was going to say exactly that. The way the USA treats it's veterans is outrageous. I can't understand why people still join the army, knowing that if they return home with a mental illness or PTSD the government will treat them like rubbish. They don't even have proper psychiatric treatment! It's terrible!
yep, swallow that propaganda
Here in Canada we have all kinds of shelter for the homeless. Some still do not want it, mainly because they want to keep using drugs. So ok, we started building "wet" housing for those people, where they can keep using and bring their drugs and alcohol with them. Many still don't want to use it because they can't bring stolen stuff onto the property (like their stolen bikes). How far do you go to ensure everyone has a roof over their heads? Turn a blind eye to theft while the rest of the community is screaming about being robbed?
I live in Oakland, CA where the homeless crisis has indeed exploded due to the high cost of housing. Like everyone else I am tired of this problem but I have no power really to do anything. Except I do- as do you . I have started to befriend the homeless that I see on a routine basis, getting to know them and helping where I can. This is Daryl and I. To be honest I don't know how long he has been on streets but I do know that every Saturday I can find him sitting by the post office and I come deliver him some food, a few bucks and whatever he asked for the previous week - items such as aspirin or hand sanitizer. I am not rich by any sense of the word but stopping to talk 3 years ago has created a great friendship between us. Again I don't know his whole story but every time i see him I am greeted with a huge hug and at least 30 minutes of great conversation. Kindness goes a long way. The homeless are humans. Care about this crisis. One day it could be you. 41299974_1...75ddfa.jpg
"The homeless are human". "One day it could be you". Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Two sentences that summarise the whole thing. I try to do the same, and many people have told me I'm mad. I'm happy to know I'm not alone. Mad or sane, I know I'm doing the right thing!
If it is me one day, I'd hope I'd show a little more respect to peoples property.
A good third of these aren't anti-homelessness at all. Some of these are inside malls...some of these are on people's private property...and a few are just design choices that are meant to look pretty rather than be practical.
So just because you don't want someone sitting on your windowsill, it's anti-homeless? Anyway, we have social security here and plenty of help, so no one needs to be homeless. Some choose to be though and I'm fine with people making sure they can't sleep where they are a nuisance. In the US however, where you just leave your poor people to die in the gutter, you should be ashamed. Not of these spikes, but because of your ridiculous attitude of 'everyone for themselves' and fuck you if you are poor.
I don't think there's a country in the world who's social security system catches everybody that needs it. Things that make an already harsh lief even more difficult are simpy wrong in any country.
Most of these are pretty bad. All of the pictures of vents that are topped make perfect sense though. There is equipment that needs those vents to function and anything blocking them could force a boiler to overheat and explode. I can't call that mean to homeless when they are trying to prevent insanely expensive breakdowns.
I used to pass the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia daily on my way to work. Each morning they would be hosing off the feces left by the homeless the night before on the giant marble portico at the entrance to the bank. Finally they installed a bronze fence with a gate to stop the unauthorized late night deposits. It did the trick and at least they didn't resort to spikes. Still I have mixed feelings about it.
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I guess that whole " City of Brotherly Love" thing is bullshit. Good to know.
they love shit free sidewalks
What's with all the homeless hate? What is wrong with people?
Fix the system. Don't punish the symptom. These are PEOPLE.
Not sure how it is in the rest of the world, but in the US a good chunk of the homeless population is made up of military veterans - especially those with mental illnesses.
Not so in Canada. We have a huge homelessness problem and it's growing. It's in big cities and small towns. The problem is the newer drugs are incredibly addictive, mental health and addiction treatment services are sparse and take ages to access, and the housing market is outrageous, pricing even working people out of rentals, nevermind homebuying. Even in small towns, where rents used to go dirt cheap. Most of the homeless in my small community are young people, some with mental illnesses, who are addicted to drugs.
Who provides the newer drugs. Who causes the housing market prices to be outrageous. Who caused rents to cease being dirt cheap.
Businesses Dont want homeless people hanging around asking people for money and will just have security or the police having said homeless removed. Instead of bitching and crying about this why dont you DO SOMETHING to get them SLEEPING INSIDE?? Indignation is all that you feel you need to do? NO you cant sleep on benches; you know what happens when you sleep on public benches? You get robbed or killed, not a safe place.
a lot of unempathetic people commenting here
Before I was born, the US had hospitals for the mentally ill to be cared for. Then the patients were turned out in the 70s and 80s, the hospitals were all closed instead of improved, and that tax money went...? Why are our tax dollars paying to shore up rich corporations and rich people like Betsy deVos who don't need it, while they pay hardly any tax, if any at all (and don't bullshit me, their accountants are ON IT to find every possible loophole). Where is all the money going? Some of it was meant to help my fellow citizens who can't take care of themselves. We here are lucky to have sound minds and bodies, to be resilient from abuse, to not have PTSD from war. If the rich got a $90BN tax cut last year, then we have the money in the US to solve this problem. People need homes and care. Where is the political will? When there's a will, then something is done. Why is there political will to wage war and give tax cuts to billionaires, but not to get the homeless off the streets?
Cities always seem to cast homeless folk as villains who deserve to be driven out of society. But in some cities, it's so hard to live there that folks are just a paycheck away from homelessness themselves. And worse, with a government and law enforcement that seem to thrive on privacy invasion, immigration round-ups, and the stress of living in a nation of the supposedly "free", it's no wonder so many would actually CHOOSE to be homeless. But to make it impossible to do something as simple as sleep is just horrid. It's inhumane. It's cruel.
60 Ways Cities Use Design To Be 'Anti-Human...
I am going to say a couple of things most people do not know. In most major cities there are lots of homeless shelters. I volunteer in one of them. Most of the people in the homeless shelter are very nice and are actively working to escape homelessness. However there are rules in the homeless shelter such as no drugs, no drinking, focus on getting jobs, focus on getting a high school diploma or GED, no active criminal warrant, and a chore schedule. Now the shelter i volunteer at is fully volunteer run so the people in the shelter needs to help out. The problem is a lot of the homeless i see do not want to follow these rules. Most of them want to continue to do what they want and often refuse to go to rehab so there is no choice for them to live on streets.
True that some homeless prefer to not be in shelters because of different reasons including addiction & active warrants, however, shelters generally don't allow residents to stay more than 90 days & don't allow re-admittance for 90 days-1 year.
My community built "wet" housing, where you can stay even if you are actively using, and bring your drugs/alcohol with you. Many homeless people STILL refuse to stay there because they can't bring stolen stuff (e.g. stolen bikes) onto the property. I'm not sure how far we have to bend the rules to ensure everyone has a roof over their head, but I definitely draw the line at turning a blind eye to theft, myself.
Exactly. My co-worker had to say goodbye to her lazy, drinking and toxic partner. He didn't want to go to his parents, so he immediately found a shelter. He's got everything there. He doesn't even have to work, which I think is bad, because he learns it's ok to live for free and do nothing. Anyway, there are a lot of shelters in my country. No need to be homeless until you want to.
Irrespective of your sentiments on homelessness, it is important to distinguish between the public accommodations in these photos versus what property owners may have chosen to do regarding architectural details with their own private property. Private property is not a public accommodation.
There is a homeless problem, and there is also a beggar problem... I see them on the streets of London daily, and you learn to tell which are legitimate rough sleepers and who are just there begging for money.
What a way to knock someone when they are already down. Maybe if the governments put the money used for these anti homeless devices into better homeless services then hopefully we can see a reduction in homelessness. These people are human beings not trash. It makes me so angry and sad that some people are so heartless to do these kind of things. Grrrrrrr In saying that many of these were not anti homeless some were just designed to be interesting and artistic etc.
maybe if all the people bitching how homeless should be aloud to Sleep Outside instead of finding ways to get more shelters....
So let's follow your example. What are you doing?
Aloud or allowed? If you know the solution why aren't you doing anything about it?
Aloud?
I recently talked to a social worker whose clients are the homeless. We talked about the cost of housing, and he said the figure he's heard is that the minimal cost of standard quality housing (connected to plumbing utilities and insulated) is an estimated $80,000 per person. Those spikes and bars and modifications - none of them are $80k. And of course, the social worker explained, it's not just about housing - mostly they need mental health counseling and/or psychiatric drugs too - so you're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even with all of that, some of them still will have little or no mental health progress, will still insist on sleeping outside when a place is available.
My church has covered steps and landing on the side of the building that aren't really used. They knew homeless sheltered there and did their best to accommodate them since we're down the street from the shelter and needle exchange. But after a cleanup removed over 200 needles thrown up on the overhang, the city actually asked the church to put up a gate. Providing unsafe unsupervised outdoor areas doesn't help people
Of course it's not OK to sleep and piss in front of a business entrance, of course it's not OK to scare away customers, of course it's not OK to have a quasi-corpse sitting on your porch. BUT... instead of spending money with cruel and ugly spikes or intersecting benches, how about you pay that money into a fund so that the city can pay for social services for homeless people or, you know, crazy idea, PREVENT that people become homeless. Treating people like cattle until they break and then prohibiting them to even exist while they try to merely survive is some high-level cruelty, but I'm sure the cynical a**wipes that think this is OK went to a soup-kitchen once, on thanksgiving, helping serve some turkey to the homeless to feel good about themselves, good for you, nobody noticed you panicking about catching an illness.. Some businesses spend incredible amounts of money for useless marketing campaigns, spending it to help their city help the homeless would yield a priceless image-hike
Imagine the designers put the same effort to help the homeless.
It breaks my heart that people would be this intentionally cruel to people who have already hit the rock bottom
So how many homeless do you let stay on your property then?
Because you either have to be Adolf Hitler or Jesus. There's no middle ground.
This is sad but in some circumstances those are necessary. I don't hate the homeless, but I don't want them leaving syringes in my yard for my kids to find. It can also make sure they don't try to access dangerous areas. I wish there were more (and better) resources for them to turn to.
If you don't want homeless people camping out, then find them a home. Problem solved. No I can't take them in, I only a couple of steps from being homeless myself. I can't move into an apartment - make too much for HUD, make not enough for "low income" housing.
While putting aside the hypocrite commenters. I know this is such a mean gesture, but to be fair.. It's easy to imagine that 'SOME' (mind the apostrophe) homeless people will left trash, display bad image for businesses, and generally speaking, create uncomfortable sight for community. No one like that, wouldn't we?
I would do the same regardless - and i've been donating and directly helping the homeless for many years.
I think that like in most situations the case is sometimes one bad apple spoil it for the entire bunch. While some are just looking for shelter, others are looking for shelter while causing destruction to the property. One night my daughter was doing laundry in our building and walked back up stairs to get an extra quarter within minutes a homeless lady locked herself in the laundry room and tried to barricade the door and of course it freaked my daughter out. i would of felt bad do to it being a cold night however this same lady would crap and piss in the laundry room and destroy the property. So while some of these seem cruel good chance that the owners and the city got fed up cleaning up after them daily. We have a severe homeless problem in this country and these people arent just going to disappear. while some dont want to be on the streets, for others it has become a way of life for them.
That's a homeless lady with a mental health problem. They should be getting care and not forced to cope on their own.
You may call me cynical bitch but I don't want drunk or drug addicted people to sleep in front of house where my kids live, study or where I work.
here where I live, we don't have that kind of things, but we do have lots of homeless people. When I was in high school, there were three schools in the same area, a huge part of the student population had to cross a bridge to take the public transportation on the other side of the boulevard. The other end of the bridge turned out to be the house of some homeless people (we never actually saw them, but we would always have to walk through their garbage, piss and feces. They would send people from the government to clean it with a hose, only to get dirty by the next morning. Years later I got a job precisely on that side of the road, and I had to walk that same bridge every morning to get to my workplace, and the problem still persisted. I don't think it's up to the businesses or parks to solve homelessness, it should be the governments who should take these people to shelters or asylums. Putting spikes isn't any more cruel than wanting people to keep sleeping on the streets
Don't be angry at the homeless. Be angry at the government. They're responsible for the safety of its citizens. And they have failed big time.
In my country we don't really have people sleeping in the rough. The people who are deemed homeless are still living indoors, on friends couches or government temporary housing etc. Can't recall seeing any spikes like these either. What we do get is drunk people passing out on benches etc. Gross.
I do agree no one wants anyone on thier property or gardens pissing and shitting thier but it has to be fixed the good old USA who gives money by the billions to country's who hate us give the money to solve fix get rid of the homelessness help them get them off the streets ur property shelters aren't always the answer housing let the president fix it he likes fixing other country's problems fix ours first
Well Tony Wilden that's where we're difference we've got a heart u peace of s*** you must be a government worker one of many they don't give a fuk I bet if the shoe was on the other foot you would want somewhere to rest your tired body after walking around all day searching for your next feed so get your head out of your arse and look at the clear future we were all not born with a silver spoon hanging out our mouth and the government of today wants to be sacked and not reinstated and let the public do the government's work for them didn't there wouldn't be any homelessness just remember when you go to bed with somebody how many people will you be sleeping with
Every time I visit a new big city I see all kinds of camping people on the streets. They are not homeless, sometimes just disgusting hippies, thinking they are living the dream by traveling for free. If you are in need of shelter why the heck you have to do it at the very center of the city? Why not go to a quieter place. They literally sleep, urinate, drug themselves and drink alcohol on the street in front of all the visitors. They are not in need if they choose to stay in front of the most famous landmarks. I am afraid to enter buildings with "homeless" people in front and they are usually anything but polite. I don't think those precautions are outrageous. As everyone says - if you don't want to personally host homeless people, don't judge the owners of private properties for protecting their buisness and homes.
It's interesting. Homelessness is a global issue. People get so angry about it. I do not know what the solution is. So much is caused by mental illness. I've heard housing first has improved the situation in many areas but not in all. I think it's important to start having these conversations.
The thing is not only do the homeless have to deal with the anti homeless discrimination against them, they still at the end of the day need to go somewhere to sleep.
Lol, so you people all enjoy going into work and having to step over needles and passed out people? Or take your kids to a park with a homeless guy sleeping on the benches?
I feel quite confused with this article and I agree with the comments below - in Cracow we have a lot of places, where homeless people can eat, sleep in a bed or take a shower. They even can help them find some job. But there is one condition - they can't be drunk. And guess what? A lot of them prefer to sleep in a park, on benches or even in the middle of the sidewalk, but with vodka or beer with. I don't want to generalize and I know that there is a lot of people that became homeless in the result of an unfortunate twist of events but do not confuse "homeless" with "drunkard"...
Alcoholism is an illness. Unfortunately, in our hypocritical society only rich people are alcoholic; the poor are just drunkards. Alcoholic people, like drug addicts, are very difficult to deal with, but the double standards are infuriating.
Fortunately, I have not seen anything like this in my city (Edmonton AB). We work to help our homeless here.
designs are not friendly to anyone using urban space. I've noticed in the last 10 to 15 years it is harder to find places to rest in the core.
Living in a place with an ever growing amount of homeless people in parks, underground stations and entrances and I can tell you: The smell and the shouting will make you become a lot less empathic over time. People need to take a sh*t and the do that outside. They ar ehomeless because they serious issues - that often does not make for friendly neighbours. In my city we do have places for many kinds of homeless people - even some low threshhold ones where you can drink booze and do drugs. We don't have enough, but eventually you will find a place. But especially the ones with tents don't WANT to live in a housing situation. I can never sit down while wating for my train. there are smelly people on every bench. Yes, they are much worse off than me but it is still very tiring to live with.
I think this is illegal in Australia brb, gonna check. Can't find anything like it on Google but I don't think it's legal here in NSW. But in most states it's illegal to do begging 🤷
Ok, iam pretty sure, that some of the is anti homeless inventions aren't against homeless.
hoes mad
This is called modern world
Maybe instead of complaining and ridiculing, you could do something... help the homeless instead... you never know when you might be one of them
Obviously you've never had to wait at a bus stop where the smell of urine literally make you sick.
I think that on business property, it’s okay to have these. Because, business. However, I think that under bridges and things like that should be ok for homeless to sleep under. It gives them shelter. Also, maybe have some signs somewhere to show where homeless people homes (places to house the homeless) are? Maybe people can’t find them.
Most of them are obvious but some of them are just you nitpicking "how dare they put armrests on a bench or decorations in front of their building?! They should make king size benches and put pillows and duvets on them instead!"
I don't agree with this article. My country gives A LOT of opportunity to homeless people. Free shelter, food, clothes, shower, they help them find a job, even an apartment. They don't have to pay for public transportation. They get legal advice for free. One only must not drink alcohol and obey the simple rules. Seriously, most won't accept help. They want to be "free". Free from duties, society rules like being clean, working, taxes. I feel sorry for people who lost home, family, reason to live. But if they want help, there is help. No need to sleep outside. At least in my country.
Sorry, but benches are not for sleeping, don't care if you are homeless or not, just don't sleep on them. Plus, most homeless people are dirty, it's a fact, you don't want to sit on bench that smells of piss or something similar.
I use to work in a downtown area full of homeless. They typically slept on our door step under cover and left by morning. However, they also defecated there every night. After years of cleaning the door step they finally put a fence up to keep them out. I can't say I blame these business owners. They have to make a living too and things like that affect business.
Arm rests are a human rights violations? Puh-lease! I don't blame businesses for putting spikes out front of their stores; they don't want any impeding human waste or perhaps smelly homeless from ruining their livelihood. It's a shame the author doesn't want to see any other perspective.
There are lots of pictures that has nothing to do with homeless people at all.
Homelessness is a constellation of several difficult, expensive societal problems. As I said below, I recently talked to a social worker whose clients are the homeless. He said the cost of standard quality housing is $80k per person, and his clients often also need mental health counseling and/or psychiatric drugs - so you're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars to really help most of them. Even with all of that, some of them still will have little or no mental health progress, will still insist on sleeping outside. And before you condemn the property owners and govts. who've created the above architecture ask yourself this: would you let homeless people sleep in your house or front or back yard or garden or garage? If the answer is no, don't condemn those who've made the same choice here.
just...what do the cities want the homeless population to do? disappear? it'd be different if we had a surplus of empty shelters buuut we don't. at least in my state. our shelters are always packed. this behavior and attitude towards homelessness is inhumane. to everyone saying would you like a stranger sleeping on your porch? I don't mind. I don't mind the homeless population camping right down the street from me either. they are quiet and keep their camp relatively clean, although they could probably do better if my city had more public trash bins! and the only ruckus that's caused in the camps are cops harassing them to move or teenagers giving them a hard time. i have been one paycheck away from homeless. the problem is our whole damn system. people shouldn't have to live like this.
How about we use all the money from those anti-homeless devices to..I dunno..BUILD SHELTERS?!?
Because the homeless aren't homeless simply because they don't have a home. The problem is much deeper than that.
youre right. quite a lot of homeless people also need long term mental health services... another thing my country in particular lacks. they also require some sort of housing since the shelters are usually at capacity. another contributing factor are released prisoners having nowhere to go or cant find a job after the transitional housing goes away. which just contributes to our high recidivism rates, which is great for the private prison operators but shit for our communities. just stating the problem is deeper than that and telling people "i bet you wouldn't want strangers on your porch", isn't enough. the homeless population isn't going to disappear because it's inconvenient.
Problem is that many homeless refuse to use shelters for various reasons. They can't take in pets, they have to be sober, they have government facilities anxiety, etc.
Our species is unkind.
Look what's happening to San Fransisco - they are being overwhelmed by homeless people, there is shit and piss, garbage and needles all over the sidewalks. They swear at pedestrians and try to hit people up for money outside businesses who are just trying to get a cup of coffee. It stinks and it's a health hazard. Major businesses who've had their conventions there for many years are now starting to pull out and book elsewhere. The city is losing a lot of revenue. I get that being homeless sucks, it's my worst nightmare, but you can't just set up camp on a sidewalk or in front of a business. The federal government needs to step in as these cities need help. Don't blame the businesses, parks and private property owners for not wanting to host them.
I would like to point out that if people sleep on benches they would take same spece as 2-4 people sitting. That just isn’t good use of money or space, and do remember that those are limited resources that are also needed elsewhere. Many groups of people enjoy or even need to rest middle of running errands or just having a walk. Stopping homeless from dominating benches is taking lots of others and their needs in consideration.
Fuck the homeless. Useless brainless scabs. I can think of numerous solutions to sleeping outdoors if I had to. And none of them involves sleeping and pissing on and around public benches and shop steps and entrances.
Hopefully you will never be in a situation where you have to prove your statement. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, tempting though it may be. I don't know what your alternative ideas are, but they may not be an option for many cases of homeless - if you lost your home before you finished high school, for example, a lot of things YOU know are options won't occur to, or be available to, someone else. Or someone disabled, or any of the other cases that put people who could do amazing things for society out on the street with no resources.
Some of these benches have those handrails to help elderly or disabled people sit down and get up, but yes, generally people suck.
Those handrails are way too low to be of functional use if you want help to get back up again. I know this from personal experience. Also, most elderly or disabled people have something with them if they have that much trouble standing back up - otherwise they'd end up stuck in places. Again, personal experience.
Some of the benches have those handrails to help elderly or disabled sit down and get up, but yes people suck.
The comments and the pictures in this isn't are completely wack. Y'all need a sociology class.
If you want to help, buy some cheap wood and styrofoam and build them a shelter on your own property. It cost about 40 dollars and takes 30 minutes of work. Let me know how long it will take before you will take it away because of smell. Or fire.
I'm not sure why the homeless don't just burn everything to the ground. They have nothing to lose. Show us all what it's like....
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Why should the outside of a public building be your bedroom?
Park benches are not meant for people to sleep on them. Nor shit and urinate or do drugs. The same goes for corners and alleys. There are several places -at least in my country- that homeless people can go and spend the night for free. There even was a modified bus that let them take showers and wash their clothes (don't know if it still runs though). My house is near a bench that a homeless person "lives". He doesn't go to shelters because he is constantly drunk. Last summer he was caught f*cking his 70 yo girlfriend right on the street. When I go to my car I have to be cautious not to step on his turds. Every space between 2 cars is a toilet for him. And he is not even from my country. Link: https://www.protothema.gr/greece/article/812712/ilikiomenoi-ekanan-sex-se-pezodromio-sto-kedro-tis-thessalonikis/
Read Ursula le Guin - The Dispossessed
The trainstation has done this, so i dont go there any more. To be this mean to those who have nothing.........Think about it when you are planning to get children, they have to be able to pay for the right to exist, can you provide for them their whole life, or will they end up not even be able to lay down?
We spend a lot of tax money on shelters, food banks, etc. SO I'm kind of okay with this. I've talked to homeless in Florida, and most of them just refuse to use the social services that are available. That's on them, not us. We should keep providing those services for those that need it, but that doesn't mean you can just take over public space. A lot of these folk get violent if you just ask for a place to sit, as if they owned the space.
At least once a week a neighborhood business next door to where I work finds homeless people holed up in the entryway to their business...often with a crack pipe on the ground beside them or a needle hanging out of their arm. Not a very nice way to start your day showing up for work...and not very friendly to clients/patrons of said business. I agree it's not a means of helping the homeless, and it may seem cruel, but to a small business owner, what other choice to they have?
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why is it wrong to keep bums from camping out in public or private areas? There are plenty of missions, and shelter s, what have you, that they can go to.
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Shoot a few of them and they'll disappear.
I think if I owned a business I'd do the same, I don't want it smelling of piss, shit and littered and putting customers off. If your all so angry and disgusted with places that do make it hard for the homeless to sleep in their doorways, invite them to sleep in your gardens, shed, apartment, homes, No... I thought not.
This is something I was thinking the whole time, not meaning to be cruel and whatnot
Bench In Volgodonsk, Russia is not from homeless people, but from drunkards who drink, litter and make noise noisy and nightly. "Bored Panda" check the facts before you "lie" to people.
I’m glad you’re up voted. The homeless problem in certain areas is so much more complex than people think. I tried helping a family member that came to me homeless and it was bad for everyone. Stolen things, cops bringing him home and drugs. It was a no win situation bc there was no answer. It’s sadly why many only get clean or mental help after jail or hospital stays. Try all you want it’s like trying to stop the wind
couldn't agree more!
I hate to say that but I do agree with Tony :(
I think it's fine if it's in front of doorways, but stuff like benches feels needlessly cruel to me.
You have a point tbh.
Agree ! Homeless dudes dont just need a “place to sleep”. They squat the area bringing all junk, used needles, smell of piss and what not with them.
Eh, many Uni students struggle financially, too.
University students and tourists binge drinking also squat areas and whole towns with their noise, smell of piss and vomits, and copulating in parks and corners, but as they have money people tolerate them, or even encourage them. People are a bunch of hypocrites!
I would upvote you more if I could!
It's not "discrimination". It's literally the opposite of that. It's not saying "These specific people can't......" it's putting everybody under the same rules. I GUARANTEE you hypocrites wouldn't like some strangers sleeping on your front porch every night.
Exactly.
Actually I used to encourage a homeless guy to sleep on my stoop in when I lived in SF. I was familiar with him and he chased off creeps that would harass my roommates and I.
I work in social services. I work with the homeless. No, I wouldn't want to have someone living on my porch, I would, however, not chase them off with idiocy like this. I have conversations, I listen, I respect. I receive the same back. I don't have homeless on my porch, but I don't put spikes on them to chase them away, either. There are ways and there are ways.
I understand what you're saying, but not everyone has the time to have a conversation with a homeless person every time they come home. I lived in San Francisco for 18 years and I have had human feces on my outside stairs multiple times. With so many homeless people its just not possible to take the time to have a discussion with every one who is invading your space, even if you had the patience for it, and even if they had the mental capacity to have the conversation with you (they don't always).
Also, we have to bear in mind that these "wonders" (sarcastic) not only chase away homeless people, but every person who may need to rest for a minute. Some of them are even dangerous for any passer-by who may be unfortunate enough to fall on them by accident. There are more and more elderly people in developed societies, but our cities are becoming more and more inhumane for everybody who is not healthy, fit and young. I imagine my elderly parents, with their mobility problems, near these monstrosities, and I feel terrified. These things could seriously wound any person. Those who defend this kind of design should think they will be old one day. I hope they need somewhere to rest for a second and they can't find even a tiny place to sit down!
I have compassion, but as someone who cannot get to my apartment without being accosted by homeless people, without having to step over piles of trash and piles of shit from homeless people I can sympathize with the people who own the property, have to maintain the property and clean up after them. And by accosted, I do not mean begging for money, I mean threatening you for money, having them grab at your personal items, demanding you give them a ride somewhere. I promise this, none of you who complain about this have to daily pick up piles of shit left on your doorstep, have to mop up pools of urine and vomit every single day. Aren't afraid to let your kids go outside alone because they will be groped or verbally assaulted. Not every homeless person is this way, but like everything else in this world a few ruin it for everyone.
This is my experience too, in my small town Canadian neighbourhood. The problem is getting worse and worse and a huge chunk of it is the drugs are getting more and more addictive and making people more and more aggressive. I am tired of being threatened, hearing about my neighbours being threatened. I used to have a lot more compassion than I did, but the literal shit on the sidewalks and the needles everywhere and the threatening behaviour is doing me in.
What we need is help for the poor, not spikes and extra bench handles. Better policies, better approaches, and more programs. There will be more homelessness coming, not less, because of automation and other factors. UBI is one way to help this, there are others though.
Isn't it kinda hypocrite to shame the anti-homeless stuff when most of us here won't even invite a homeless person to stay in our home for a long period of time?
Do you feel you should personally solve every societal problem by bringing it into your home?
@Foxxy - When you say the government needs to find better ways, you're really saying the taxpayer needs to pony up the money to find better ways. And that's the problem. Most people just want tax cuts and they don't want to pay for what's really needed to deal with the problems. This is what you get with your tax cuts.
@no_name - My community has even built "wet" housing, meaning you can stay there even if you're using, and bring your drugs/alcohol with you. But you can't bring stolen stuff, so they still don't want to stay there.
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No, it’s not hypocritical. Having a stranger staying in your own home is completely different to homeless people sleeping in nooks and crannies etc. Where I live most of the time you rarely see any homeless sleeping during the day, they find spaces to sleep at night when the businesses are closed. The governments need to find better ways to prevent homelessness. Not just turn a blind eye at the problem and hope it goes away.
So you're cool with stepping over sleeping bags and mattresses in the entrance to your apartment building? Right.
Let me tell you what I see in my country - there are shelters those poor people can sleep in. But they won't, because they would have to be sober, they cannot smoke in there and they have to clean themselves, so they rather stay on streets all night. There's always a way. Also, we have helping programs - they sell magazines and get half of profit for food or whatever. I meet maybe five or six different people in my city, the rest won't just give a crap, because again - you have to be sober. I'm buying that magazine every month.
In front of businesses is not a public place. That is still owned by a corporation or a person. Just because it is not a home does not mean it is a public place.
I never said homes, I said businesses. Most homeless that don’t have access to shelter sleep in parks, near big shopping centres, etc. Public places.
A Lot of this kind of thing started as anti skateboarders, so you cant rail slide or grind
What do I think? I think that this entire post is bogus. I think the author was looking for something to rail about and decided to twist things to suit his/her purpose.
Fix the reasons that make people homeless and you do not need any of these. And now do not tell me homeless people are those that are to lazy to work. My own experience is that many seem to struggle with physical and mental illnesses, and addiction can be a factor. The price societies pay for NOT including them again is way higher than admited.
The really sad part is the proportion of veterans is outrageous...
John L is right - the rest of you are swallowing the anti-homeless people propaganda.
That’s not really true.
I was going to say exactly that. The way the USA treats it's veterans is outrageous. I can't understand why people still join the army, knowing that if they return home with a mental illness or PTSD the government will treat them like rubbish. They don't even have proper psychiatric treatment! It's terrible!
yep, swallow that propaganda
Here in Canada we have all kinds of shelter for the homeless. Some still do not want it, mainly because they want to keep using drugs. So ok, we started building "wet" housing for those people, where they can keep using and bring their drugs and alcohol with them. Many still don't want to use it because they can't bring stolen stuff onto the property (like their stolen bikes). How far do you go to ensure everyone has a roof over their heads? Turn a blind eye to theft while the rest of the community is screaming about being robbed?
I live in Oakland, CA where the homeless crisis has indeed exploded due to the high cost of housing. Like everyone else I am tired of this problem but I have no power really to do anything. Except I do- as do you . I have started to befriend the homeless that I see on a routine basis, getting to know them and helping where I can. This is Daryl and I. To be honest I don't know how long he has been on streets but I do know that every Saturday I can find him sitting by the post office and I come deliver him some food, a few bucks and whatever he asked for the previous week - items such as aspirin or hand sanitizer. I am not rich by any sense of the word but stopping to talk 3 years ago has created a great friendship between us. Again I don't know his whole story but every time i see him I am greeted with a huge hug and at least 30 minutes of great conversation. Kindness goes a long way. The homeless are humans. Care about this crisis. One day it could be you. 41299974_1...75ddfa.jpg
"The homeless are human". "One day it could be you". Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Two sentences that summarise the whole thing. I try to do the same, and many people have told me I'm mad. I'm happy to know I'm not alone. Mad or sane, I know I'm doing the right thing!
If it is me one day, I'd hope I'd show a little more respect to peoples property.
A good third of these aren't anti-homelessness at all. Some of these are inside malls...some of these are on people's private property...and a few are just design choices that are meant to look pretty rather than be practical.
So just because you don't want someone sitting on your windowsill, it's anti-homeless? Anyway, we have social security here and plenty of help, so no one needs to be homeless. Some choose to be though and I'm fine with people making sure they can't sleep where they are a nuisance. In the US however, where you just leave your poor people to die in the gutter, you should be ashamed. Not of these spikes, but because of your ridiculous attitude of 'everyone for themselves' and fuck you if you are poor.
I don't think there's a country in the world who's social security system catches everybody that needs it. Things that make an already harsh lief even more difficult are simpy wrong in any country.
Most of these are pretty bad. All of the pictures of vents that are topped make perfect sense though. There is equipment that needs those vents to function and anything blocking them could force a boiler to overheat and explode. I can't call that mean to homeless when they are trying to prevent insanely expensive breakdowns.
I used to pass the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia daily on my way to work. Each morning they would be hosing off the feces left by the homeless the night before on the giant marble portico at the entrance to the bank. Finally they installed a bronze fence with a gate to stop the unauthorized late night deposits. It did the trick and at least they didn't resort to spikes. Still I have mixed feelings about it.
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I guess that whole " City of Brotherly Love" thing is bullshit. Good to know.
they love shit free sidewalks
What's with all the homeless hate? What is wrong with people?
Fix the system. Don't punish the symptom. These are PEOPLE.
Not sure how it is in the rest of the world, but in the US a good chunk of the homeless population is made up of military veterans - especially those with mental illnesses.
Not so in Canada. We have a huge homelessness problem and it's growing. It's in big cities and small towns. The problem is the newer drugs are incredibly addictive, mental health and addiction treatment services are sparse and take ages to access, and the housing market is outrageous, pricing even working people out of rentals, nevermind homebuying. Even in small towns, where rents used to go dirt cheap. Most of the homeless in my small community are young people, some with mental illnesses, who are addicted to drugs.
Who provides the newer drugs. Who causes the housing market prices to be outrageous. Who caused rents to cease being dirt cheap.
Businesses Dont want homeless people hanging around asking people for money and will just have security or the police having said homeless removed. Instead of bitching and crying about this why dont you DO SOMETHING to get them SLEEPING INSIDE?? Indignation is all that you feel you need to do? NO you cant sleep on benches; you know what happens when you sleep on public benches? You get robbed or killed, not a safe place.
a lot of unempathetic people commenting here
Before I was born, the US had hospitals for the mentally ill to be cared for. Then the patients were turned out in the 70s and 80s, the hospitals were all closed instead of improved, and that tax money went...? Why are our tax dollars paying to shore up rich corporations and rich people like Betsy deVos who don't need it, while they pay hardly any tax, if any at all (and don't bullshit me, their accountants are ON IT to find every possible loophole). Where is all the money going? Some of it was meant to help my fellow citizens who can't take care of themselves. We here are lucky to have sound minds and bodies, to be resilient from abuse, to not have PTSD from war. If the rich got a $90BN tax cut last year, then we have the money in the US to solve this problem. People need homes and care. Where is the political will? When there's a will, then something is done. Why is there political will to wage war and give tax cuts to billionaires, but not to get the homeless off the streets?
Cities always seem to cast homeless folk as villains who deserve to be driven out of society. But in some cities, it's so hard to live there that folks are just a paycheck away from homelessness themselves. And worse, with a government and law enforcement that seem to thrive on privacy invasion, immigration round-ups, and the stress of living in a nation of the supposedly "free", it's no wonder so many would actually CHOOSE to be homeless. But to make it impossible to do something as simple as sleep is just horrid. It's inhumane. It's cruel.
60 Ways Cities Use Design To Be 'Anti-Human...
I am going to say a couple of things most people do not know. In most major cities there are lots of homeless shelters. I volunteer in one of them. Most of the people in the homeless shelter are very nice and are actively working to escape homelessness. However there are rules in the homeless shelter such as no drugs, no drinking, focus on getting jobs, focus on getting a high school diploma or GED, no active criminal warrant, and a chore schedule. Now the shelter i volunteer at is fully volunteer run so the people in the shelter needs to help out. The problem is a lot of the homeless i see do not want to follow these rules. Most of them want to continue to do what they want and often refuse to go to rehab so there is no choice for them to live on streets.
True that some homeless prefer to not be in shelters because of different reasons including addiction & active warrants, however, shelters generally don't allow residents to stay more than 90 days & don't allow re-admittance for 90 days-1 year.
My community built "wet" housing, where you can stay even if you are actively using, and bring your drugs/alcohol with you. Many homeless people STILL refuse to stay there because they can't bring stolen stuff (e.g. stolen bikes) onto the property. I'm not sure how far we have to bend the rules to ensure everyone has a roof over their head, but I definitely draw the line at turning a blind eye to theft, myself.
Exactly. My co-worker had to say goodbye to her lazy, drinking and toxic partner. He didn't want to go to his parents, so he immediately found a shelter. He's got everything there. He doesn't even have to work, which I think is bad, because he learns it's ok to live for free and do nothing. Anyway, there are a lot of shelters in my country. No need to be homeless until you want to.
Irrespective of your sentiments on homelessness, it is important to distinguish between the public accommodations in these photos versus what property owners may have chosen to do regarding architectural details with their own private property. Private property is not a public accommodation.
There is a homeless problem, and there is also a beggar problem... I see them on the streets of London daily, and you learn to tell which are legitimate rough sleepers and who are just there begging for money.
What a way to knock someone when they are already down. Maybe if the governments put the money used for these anti homeless devices into better homeless services then hopefully we can see a reduction in homelessness. These people are human beings not trash. It makes me so angry and sad that some people are so heartless to do these kind of things. Grrrrrrr In saying that many of these were not anti homeless some were just designed to be interesting and artistic etc.
maybe if all the people bitching how homeless should be aloud to Sleep Outside instead of finding ways to get more shelters....
So let's follow your example. What are you doing?
Aloud or allowed? If you know the solution why aren't you doing anything about it?
Aloud?
I recently talked to a social worker whose clients are the homeless. We talked about the cost of housing, and he said the figure he's heard is that the minimal cost of standard quality housing (connected to plumbing utilities and insulated) is an estimated $80,000 per person. Those spikes and bars and modifications - none of them are $80k. And of course, the social worker explained, it's not just about housing - mostly they need mental health counseling and/or psychiatric drugs too - so you're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even with all of that, some of them still will have little or no mental health progress, will still insist on sleeping outside when a place is available.
My church has covered steps and landing on the side of the building that aren't really used. They knew homeless sheltered there and did their best to accommodate them since we're down the street from the shelter and needle exchange. But after a cleanup removed over 200 needles thrown up on the overhang, the city actually asked the church to put up a gate. Providing unsafe unsupervised outdoor areas doesn't help people
Of course it's not OK to sleep and piss in front of a business entrance, of course it's not OK to scare away customers, of course it's not OK to have a quasi-corpse sitting on your porch. BUT... instead of spending money with cruel and ugly spikes or intersecting benches, how about you pay that money into a fund so that the city can pay for social services for homeless people or, you know, crazy idea, PREVENT that people become homeless. Treating people like cattle until they break and then prohibiting them to even exist while they try to merely survive is some high-level cruelty, but I'm sure the cynical a**wipes that think this is OK went to a soup-kitchen once, on thanksgiving, helping serve some turkey to the homeless to feel good about themselves, good for you, nobody noticed you panicking about catching an illness.. Some businesses spend incredible amounts of money for useless marketing campaigns, spending it to help their city help the homeless would yield a priceless image-hike
Imagine the designers put the same effort to help the homeless.
It breaks my heart that people would be this intentionally cruel to people who have already hit the rock bottom
So how many homeless do you let stay on your property then?
Because you either have to be Adolf Hitler or Jesus. There's no middle ground.
This is sad but in some circumstances those are necessary. I don't hate the homeless, but I don't want them leaving syringes in my yard for my kids to find. It can also make sure they don't try to access dangerous areas. I wish there were more (and better) resources for them to turn to.
If you don't want homeless people camping out, then find them a home. Problem solved. No I can't take them in, I only a couple of steps from being homeless myself. I can't move into an apartment - make too much for HUD, make not enough for "low income" housing.
While putting aside the hypocrite commenters. I know this is such a mean gesture, but to be fair.. It's easy to imagine that 'SOME' (mind the apostrophe) homeless people will left trash, display bad image for businesses, and generally speaking, create uncomfortable sight for community. No one like that, wouldn't we?
I would do the same regardless - and i've been donating and directly helping the homeless for many years.
I think that like in most situations the case is sometimes one bad apple spoil it for the entire bunch. While some are just looking for shelter, others are looking for shelter while causing destruction to the property. One night my daughter was doing laundry in our building and walked back up stairs to get an extra quarter within minutes a homeless lady locked herself in the laundry room and tried to barricade the door and of course it freaked my daughter out. i would of felt bad do to it being a cold night however this same lady would crap and piss in the laundry room and destroy the property. So while some of these seem cruel good chance that the owners and the city got fed up cleaning up after them daily. We have a severe homeless problem in this country and these people arent just going to disappear. while some dont want to be on the streets, for others it has become a way of life for them.
That's a homeless lady with a mental health problem. They should be getting care and not forced to cope on their own.
You may call me cynical bitch but I don't want drunk or drug addicted people to sleep in front of house where my kids live, study or where I work.
here where I live, we don't have that kind of things, but we do have lots of homeless people. When I was in high school, there were three schools in the same area, a huge part of the student population had to cross a bridge to take the public transportation on the other side of the boulevard. The other end of the bridge turned out to be the house of some homeless people (we never actually saw them, but we would always have to walk through their garbage, piss and feces. They would send people from the government to clean it with a hose, only to get dirty by the next morning. Years later I got a job precisely on that side of the road, and I had to walk that same bridge every morning to get to my workplace, and the problem still persisted. I don't think it's up to the businesses or parks to solve homelessness, it should be the governments who should take these people to shelters or asylums. Putting spikes isn't any more cruel than wanting people to keep sleeping on the streets
Don't be angry at the homeless. Be angry at the government. They're responsible for the safety of its citizens. And they have failed big time.
In my country we don't really have people sleeping in the rough. The people who are deemed homeless are still living indoors, on friends couches or government temporary housing etc. Can't recall seeing any spikes like these either. What we do get is drunk people passing out on benches etc. Gross.
I do agree no one wants anyone on thier property or gardens pissing and shitting thier but it has to be fixed the good old USA who gives money by the billions to country's who hate us give the money to solve fix get rid of the homelessness help them get them off the streets ur property shelters aren't always the answer housing let the president fix it he likes fixing other country's problems fix ours first
Well Tony Wilden that's where we're difference we've got a heart u peace of s*** you must be a government worker one of many they don't give a fuk I bet if the shoe was on the other foot you would want somewhere to rest your tired body after walking around all day searching for your next feed so get your head out of your arse and look at the clear future we were all not born with a silver spoon hanging out our mouth and the government of today wants to be sacked and not reinstated and let the public do the government's work for them didn't there wouldn't be any homelessness just remember when you go to bed with somebody how many people will you be sleeping with
Every time I visit a new big city I see all kinds of camping people on the streets. They are not homeless, sometimes just disgusting hippies, thinking they are living the dream by traveling for free. If you are in need of shelter why the heck you have to do it at the very center of the city? Why not go to a quieter place. They literally sleep, urinate, drug themselves and drink alcohol on the street in front of all the visitors. They are not in need if they choose to stay in front of the most famous landmarks. I am afraid to enter buildings with "homeless" people in front and they are usually anything but polite. I don't think those precautions are outrageous. As everyone says - if you don't want to personally host homeless people, don't judge the owners of private properties for protecting their buisness and homes.
It's interesting. Homelessness is a global issue. People get so angry about it. I do not know what the solution is. So much is caused by mental illness. I've heard housing first has improved the situation in many areas but not in all. I think it's important to start having these conversations.
The thing is not only do the homeless have to deal with the anti homeless discrimination against them, they still at the end of the day need to go somewhere to sleep.
Lol, so you people all enjoy going into work and having to step over needles and passed out people? Or take your kids to a park with a homeless guy sleeping on the benches?
I feel quite confused with this article and I agree with the comments below - in Cracow we have a lot of places, where homeless people can eat, sleep in a bed or take a shower. They even can help them find some job. But there is one condition - they can't be drunk. And guess what? A lot of them prefer to sleep in a park, on benches or even in the middle of the sidewalk, but with vodka or beer with. I don't want to generalize and I know that there is a lot of people that became homeless in the result of an unfortunate twist of events but do not confuse "homeless" with "drunkard"...
Alcoholism is an illness. Unfortunately, in our hypocritical society only rich people are alcoholic; the poor are just drunkards. Alcoholic people, like drug addicts, are very difficult to deal with, but the double standards are infuriating.
Fortunately, I have not seen anything like this in my city (Edmonton AB). We work to help our homeless here.
designs are not friendly to anyone using urban space. I've noticed in the last 10 to 15 years it is harder to find places to rest in the core.
Living in a place with an ever growing amount of homeless people in parks, underground stations and entrances and I can tell you: The smell and the shouting will make you become a lot less empathic over time. People need to take a sh*t and the do that outside. They ar ehomeless because they serious issues - that often does not make for friendly neighbours. In my city we do have places for many kinds of homeless people - even some low threshhold ones where you can drink booze and do drugs. We don't have enough, but eventually you will find a place. But especially the ones with tents don't WANT to live in a housing situation. I can never sit down while wating for my train. there are smelly people on every bench. Yes, they are much worse off than me but it is still very tiring to live with.
I think this is illegal in Australia brb, gonna check. Can't find anything like it on Google but I don't think it's legal here in NSW. But in most states it's illegal to do begging 🤷
Ok, iam pretty sure, that some of the is anti homeless inventions aren't against homeless.
hoes mad
This is called modern world
Maybe instead of complaining and ridiculing, you could do something... help the homeless instead... you never know when you might be one of them
Obviously you've never had to wait at a bus stop where the smell of urine literally make you sick.