Homeless Communities Limited to Sleeping on the Ground

By Skyler Bradley

Although the homeless community struggles with finding permanent housing, public structures are now preventing them from seeking temporary locations to sleep or rest.

Shelter Scotland has stated that, every 18 minutes, a household in Scotland becomes homeless.

Similarly, Scottish Household Survey data indicated that ‘around 5,300 adults slept rough at least once a year in Scotland… estimating over 700 people on a typical night’.

With an increase in anti-homeless architecture (else named hostile or exclusionary designs) around the world, adding unnecessary personal space ‘armrests’ or divides to regular benches is harmful.

Argued to prevent rough sleeping overall, abstract seating designs can be found at UK bus stops which feature extremely narrow and slanted benches.

These designs do not only prevent homeless individuals from taking shelter but obstruct the elderly and disabled communities from sitting comfortably – ironically targeting groups which use public transport regularly.

Obstructive architecture such as benches with dividing barriers are recognised as ‘anti-homeless benches’ online with numerous Twitter users mocking their purpose.

Some anti-homeless benches have advocacy messages plastered on them – hypocritically supporting movements for certain minority groups whilst physically restricting others like the homeless community via practicality usage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spikes and bollards under bridges or underpasses are another example of hostile architecture which mirrors design features introduced to prevent pigeon loitering on rooftops. Metal spikes, netting, fake birds of prey, and electrified wires have previously been used to exile pigeons and prevent droppings on buildings or architecture.

Comparisons can be made between hostile architecture and anti-pigeon architecture as metal spikes on rooftops are also found on underpasses to prevent tent-pitching and camping.

Twitter user @hostiledesigns posts global submissions of exclusory structures with their most recent uploads sourced in Montréal, Quebec (pictured left) and Washington, United States (pictured right).

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has also sparked conversation online into what is considered hostile designs… Does the intent of the design’s purpose matter?

Solutions to curb these architectural flaws are rare to find. This led French citizen, Hippolyte (identity hidden for anonymity) to be taken to court for removing metal barriers on public benches with an associate.

Speaking to Euronews in 2018, Hippolyte described his criminal charge of stealing public property as “ironic”. He mentions that taxpayer money has helped fund architecture which limits the way citizens can access public property.

Hippolyte added that his actions did not aid the homeless community. He says, “we cannot consider removing [the armrests] as helping out homeless people because letting them sleep on a bench is not really helping.”

Helping the homeless community became a priority particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic when a ‘Protect and Vaccinate’ scheme was fronted by the UK government in 2021. They aimed to increase vaccinations of rough sleepers – whilst arranging safe accommodation for them.

As of September 2022, the UK government is investing £2 billion over the next three years to counter homelessness and to permanently end rough sleeping.

But for now, the homeless community remains at a disadvantage due to exemptive designs in public spaces.

However, volunteer-driven projects like ‘Sleep Pod’ are providing adequate short-term solutions to this issue.

Being both extremely cost-efficient (costing £30 to make per pod) and insulative to curb drastic weather conditions, this UK-based project has built an estimated 6,500 pods so far with a contribution figure of over 3,000 volunteers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rough sleepers cannot be housed instantly, and it is therefore in the best interest of the public for authorities to provide temporary solutions like Sleep Pod to assist those at risk.

Implementing shelter spaces similar to food bank access could be lifesaving in the long-term.