Hostile architecture- The "aesthetic" fix to homeless

If you live in or near the city, chances are, you’ve probably encountered public spaces that look like this. This architecture is known as “hostile architecture” or “defensive architecture” and it’s used to prevent people from sitting in certain spaces for too long. Not only is this architecture uncomfortable and unwelcoming, but it’s also violently anti-homeless. 

Defensive architecture sends the message that whether you have a home or not, you aren’t welcome. This architecture primarily targets the homeless, as public spaces are most commonly used as their refuge. In order to prevent “errant” sitting, loitering, and sleeping these hostile creations are built-in spaces that the homeless rely on.

Homelessness has become a stain on a city's white shirt. Defensive architecture doesn’t prevent homelessness or account for resource inequity, it just designs the homeless away.

To call much of this design work “defensive” architecture rather than “hostile” is inherently hostile in nature. The word implies that the public needs defending from the sights and experiences of homelessness when they walk along the sidewalk or through a park for lunch or walk home at night past someone sleeping under a store’s awning to get away from the rain. It implies that public space needs to be defended from the presence of other members of the public. They just might not be the “public” that a city wants on display.

- International Network of Street papers

In major cities such as New York and L.A, homeless is a much more prominent issue. The budgets for those cities do not reflect this.

This graphic came up when I looked at LA's budget

I then immediately looked at the other sections of their budget.

(https://www.lamayor.org/budget-resources)

See the problem? Over a billion dollars goes to the police department. The police receive an astronomical amount of money, while housing development receives a fraction of that. This is where concepts like defunding the police come into play. Defunding the police doesn’t mean stripping them of all funds, but it’s about re-allocating the disproportionate amount of money they receive to things that better the community. Imagine if the money that is spent on the police, was spent on affordable housing and education? Instead of installing hostile architecture and trying to buy homelessness away, put more money into the foundation. 

(Pre-COVID data because there isn’t a lot of quality empirical data regarding homelessness during the pandemic)

Homelessness is the most rampant amongst people in families, so put more money into programs for those people. 

In order for real change to occur, it is imperative that cities recognize that homelessness is a human issue, not an aesthetic one. Homeless people are people. Treat them like it.

As always,

Stay funky, skunky, spicy, and hydrated

- Elliott☆