Spikes keep the homeless away, pushing them further out of s

[Deleted]

Have you heard of this? What are your thoughts? 

Spikes keep the homeless away, pushing them further out of sight
Alex Andreou
A new development in London has installed metal spikes in an alcove – such 'defensive architecture' helps us to pretend real poverty doesn't exist
A set of inch-high studs in a doorway of an apartment block in London
Defensive architecture says to some: 'Not even this bit of earth. Not even for the night.' Photograph: Jamie Lorriman
Monday 9 June 2014 07.11 EDT


For more than a decade "defensive architecture" has increasingly been creeping into urban life. From narrow, slanted bus shelter seats – not even suitable for sitting on, let alone sleeping on – to park benches with peculiar armrests designed to make it impossible to recline; from angular metal studs on central London ledges to surreal forests of pyramid bollards under bridges and flyovers. Hard property jutting out against soft homeless bodies, saying: how dare you be poor in plain sight?

Artist Sarah Ross attempted to highlight this trend, tongue-in-cheek, by creating "archisuits": padded jumpsuits that allowed the wearer to wrap around this unforgiving environment. Sculptor Fabian Bransing aimed to satirise this aspect of modern urban life, creating the "pay bench" which retracts its metal spikes when the prospective sitter feeds it a coin – but only for a limited time. Modern life has a way of piling irony on top of sarcasm. The Chinese government saw the project, thought it was a great idea and installed the benches in Yantai Park of the Shangdong province.

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Step by selfish step we have arrived at the latest item causing outrage: a bed of metal spikes inside an alcove of a fancy new development on Southwark Bridge Road in London. "I think it's a good idea," one resident said. Speaking of "beggars and homeless people sleeping there", she added: "It completely affects the way the building seems, the appearance, and it's just not very nice." An Englishman's home is his castle, and that castle now includes a moat to keep the peasants out.

These "anti-homeless" measures are designed to move the destitute on to somewhere else. I lived on Southwark Bridge Road before every patch of it was developed into posh apartments – a small, one-bedroom flat will now set you back £500,000. The area's rough-sleeping population was a direct result of another "crackdown on homelessness" in nearby Waterloo.

At the root of this cruelty, which treats the dispossessed like a pigeon infestation – fed crumbs by the kindly misguided, shooed away by the thoughtlessly indifferent and spiked by the inhumanly practical – are wilful misconceptions about homelessness: that it is a lifestyle choice, which oddly becomes more popular during periods of nationwide economic ruin; that poverty is down to personal failure; that kindness perpetuates it; and, more than any misconception, that good shelter is readily available.

Before I became homeless myself, nothing could have prepared me for the shock of finding out that there are very few shelters which offer temporary refuge for the night for free. In order to get it, I had to be referred by a local agency. In order to be referred by a local agency I needed to demonstrate to a council a "sufficient local connection". Proving a sufficient local connection for the majority of homeless people, who commonly become itinerant before they become dispossessed, is much harder than it sounds. Asking someone sleeping rough to provide bills showing a local address is about as realistic as asking them to provide proof that unicorns exist.

I remember walking into the nearby housing office when I knew I was going to become homeless in four days' time. I was a single, physically healthy male with no dependants. "You're not homeless yet," the office observed, "and you don't have any bills from this address." I had been staying with a friend whose kindness had finally reached an end; I had no bills in my name. I was advised to try the council where I had last paid bills regularly. More than six months had passed. My "sufficient local connection" had been severed. I was passed like a parcel from borough to borough, none of them wanting to help me because by doing so I would have become part of their statistics, affected their targets, and become their responsibility.

On one occasion I paid for shelter for the night. I didn't do it lightly. It cost £14, a week's food budget. As I lay awake in a room with another dozen desperate men, the smell of chlorine from my sheets barely masking the smell of sweat and alcohol, the whirring of the fan above my cot unable to compete with the coughing, wheezing and murmuring, it became clear why many choose a doorway, as I did from then on.

Still, none of this hardship compared to the psychological damage which goes with such territory. I felt increasingly invisible and inhuman, as if the real me was evaporating. There were many moments when I was acutely aware that I was on a knife edge; that if I lost even one more per cent of myself, I would never again be myself.

And this damaging dissociation of the destitute from the rest of the world, this dehumanising effect, is precisely the aspect that such offensive "defensive architecture" feeds. It makes the city hostile to those who exist in this parallel reality. It breaks their psyche down further, making recovery less likely. It consigns them further out of sight so that the rest may continue to pretend that real poverty doesn't exist. It doesn't just deny someone who has absolutely nothing, a place to rest; it is a sign which reads, "Not even this bit of earth. Not even for the night."

[Wrath0fKuus]

My gods. Why?!

[Daria Morgandorffer]

Yep, I kept seeing things like this in Chicago- seriously pissed me off.

[secretlyevil]

This is horrifying.

[mominatrix]

Because it makes it easier to pretend that the poors don't exist.

[Deleted]

The mayor of Montreal had some removed: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/anti-loitering-spikes-removed-after-montreal-mayor-voices-outrage-1.2670842

[nomad100]

Unfuckingbelieveable.

Just wait until one of those rich people being "protected" from the poors trips on one those after coming home drunk, cracking their head and the city ends up getting sued and those will go away.

[elleblue]

Omg how awful. This hurts my heart. 

[PinkSquirrel]

Activists poured concrete on them this morning.   

[forreals]

That is horrible but sadly not surprising.

[Deleted]

How many posters would be happy with a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in front of their home?

[Deleted]

Jun 13, 2014 20:46:07 GMT -5 @spenjamins said:

How many posters would be happy with a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in front of their home?

There a fuckton of things in this world I am not happy with. But I sure as shit am not going to support treating human beings like this and pretending it solves the problem. The homeless are not stray fucking pigeons for God's sake.

[irishbride2]

Jun 13, 2014 20:46:07 GMT -5 @spenjamins said:

How many posters would be happy with a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in front of their home?

Been there. Was I happy? No. Because its not a happy thing seeing a homeless person. Did I learn his name and frequently share food with him? Yes. 

Do I expect a cookie? Nope. But not all of us are begging for spikes, either. 

[PinkSquirrel]

Jun 13, 2014 20:46:07 GMT -5 @spenjamins said:

How many posters would be happy with a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk in front of their home?

From time to time we have a local homeless man who will get really drunk and pass out under my back stairs. I'm not mad about it. I do call the police every time because he's often so out of it and there for so long it can be concerning.   He's perfectly harmless.  

The cops know him well and call an ambulance and he spends the night at the hospital until he's sobered up. I've never been angry or upset with him, though every time I am sad as fuck that the only resource we seem to have for this man is to send him to the hospital which does nothing to improve his situation. If we spent the same amount of money caring for him that we spent on his ambulance trips he would likely be in a better situation

[bimbi284]

Ugh. I saw this the other day and wanted to cry. I actually love pigeons more than anyone, and anytime I see the bird spikes it makes me sad. But people spikes?!?? That's just not even something I can comprehend as reality. Just No.

[decemberwedding07]

I always thought those were there to prevent tourists and teens from sitting down.

[thedude]

Oh no, no, no. Work to fix the root cause, don't just treat the symptom to mask the problem. And frankly, it's not even treating the symptom, its just moving the symptom to the next block. Obviously poverty and homelessness isn't an easy fix, but this is absolutely a step in the wrong direction. This is so dehumanizing and cold.

[Saint Monica]

I lived someplace where homeless people slept outside of. I can honestly say if I was paying $200K for a home or more and the homeless were living outside my residence I would be fucking pissed. You know what else is dehumanizing. Who cleans up the gatorade bottles with pee in it? Used condoms? Misc other trash? Those of you with kids may sing a different song if that sweet homeless person outside your door is a sex offender.
I'm not saying I know what the answer is but I am surprised that so many of you only see this from the 'cruel' perspective.

[Deleted]

Jun 15, 2014 7:57:21 GMT -5 Saint Monica said:

I lived someplace where homeless people slept outside of. I can honestly say if I was paying $200K for a home or more and the homeless were living outside my residence I would be fucking pissed. You know what else is dehumanizing. Who cleans up the gatorade bottles with pee in it? Used condoms? Misc other trash? Those of you with kids may sing a different song if that sweet homeless person outside your door is a sex offender.
I'm not saying I know what the answer is but I am surprised that so many of you only see this from the 'cruel' perspective.

I used to live in an area with a homeless problem. There were guys living under the bridge near our house and panhandlers at our T stop. I couldn't solve the problem, but I knew some of their names and gave them any money I would find on my walk to the T and some times buy them coffee on a cold day. Wendy's wasn't happy when I gave them books of coupons for free frostys because suddenly they were customers who could use the bathroom.

That said, I get where you are coming from too. It wasn't great to go to a playground and have a homeless camp set up. 

I guess a little compassion and empathy goes far.

As for sex offenders all of them in our town were registered to the "wet" shelter that was 3 blocks from our house. 

[irishbride2]

Oh so only the lower middle class and poor should have to have sex offenders on their doorstep?

That's the problem. The wealthy want to push them away because it's sad to look at homeless people but they have to go somewhere....

Would I prefer not to have homeless people in my neighborhood? Of course. I would also prefer to not have homeless people at all. But kicking them out of my neighborhood into someone else's does nothing.

[freshhell]

I was not a frequent churchgoer until we moved to Memphis (to illustrate: once H and I were debating whether to have a 3rd margarita with brunch in DC when the waitress said, "Why not? It's Easter." We had no idea.) Anyway, we went to an urban church and I loved it. One Sunday, a homeless man and one of the richest men in the city joined. They were announced one after the other. I loved it. It was what church and faith should be, both of these men, side by side in the pew.

The homeless man was murdered a few years later. His funeral had more people than any I had ever seen. I'm happy to see that his memory is still being honored - "Pilgrim's Rest" was created in his memory - www.localmemphis.com/story/local-volunteer-project-brings-hope-to-the-homeless/d/story/mI6S3tvb8keULBVhNz7pPw

When we treat homeless people as one giant "other" population, we lose so much.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

My god. When privilege extends to not having to see unpleasant things while less fortunate humans suffer, we really are fucked.

[Deleted]

I honestly don't worry about sex offenders. God knows there are people who commit horrific crimes against children every day who have never been in trouble a day in their lives. They've been molesting children but they haven't been caught. It's far easier for me to teach my children to be aware of the people around them, what to do if someone hurts them, than to instill the idea that it's the homeless people of the world that hurt children.

The last thing I want my kids to do is to avoid giving a homeless man a sandwich only to spend all of their free time alone in their soccer coach's secret place.

Of course there might be less homeless if this fucking sex offender registry bullshit wasn't keeping them from finding a place to live or a job to employ them so they can pay the damned rent and not sleep on the fucking streets like a damned dog.

You can't force sex offenders into tent cities and then complain about sex offenders being homeless.

[Deleted]

Jun 15, 2014 9:02:50 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

My god. When privilege extends to not having to see unpleasant things while less fortunate humans suffer, we really are fucked.

Well, we wouldn't want to have to explain it to the children, would we?

That has got to be the most bullshit excuse in all of humanity. Can't have gay folks holding hands because how would we explain it to the children? Can't let the homeless sit outside of the gated community because how would we explain it to the children?

[irishbride2]

Jun 15, 2014 9:05:43 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Jun 15, 2014 9:02:50 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

My god. When privilege extends to not having to see unpleasant things while less fortunate humans suffer, we really are fucked.

Well, we wouldn't want to have to explain it to the children, would we?

That has got to be the most bullshit excuse in all of humanity. Can't have gay folks holding hands because how would we explain it to the children? Can't let the homeless sit outside of the gated community because how would we explain it to the children?

So far, the gay parents conversation was one of the easiest we've had.

DD: did you know so-and-so doesn't have a mommy?!?!
Me: I did! He has two daddies.
DD: Why?
Me: there are a lot of different types of families. Some have a mommy and a daddy. Some have two daddies. Some have two mommies. Some have just one mommy or one daddy.

DD: oh. Can I have a snack?

I was expecting more considering the multi-day around and around conversation we had about why some men have long hair. 

**I realize the conversation will likely come up again some day, but seriously. I don't get what is so hard about it. 

[penelope]

Agreed that they are just moving the problem to another area and doing nothing to help the problem.

Re: the possibility of those homeless being sex offenders. The worst sex offender could be living in that $200,000 house next door to you. Or are only poor people those too?

[irishbride2]

Jun 15, 2014 11:31:58 GMT -5 tillie said:

What if you owned a business that was the sole income for your family and this was hurting your business?

I wouldn't have gone about it this way, but I would want to find a (better) way to help them/ not have them hurt my business.

The main issue is how they went about it.

Look my city mostly runs on tourism. Having homeless everywhere in the city would not be good for the city. I get it . I don't think anyone is saying that having homeless people is good....for anyone. (Especially the homeless obviously) But work to improve the situation and provide shelters and the like. Don't just shuffle the problem into someone else's yard .

[Deleted]

Yeah, no one is saying they're all good with the homeless just lounging about in front of their houses and businesses. But let's not pretend that laying down spike strips is the only way to deal with the problem.

[Deleted]

Jun 15, 2014 11:48:14 GMT -5 tillie said:

Jun 15, 2014 11:38:43 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Yeah, no one is saying they're all good with the homeless just lounging about in front of their houses and businesses. But let's not pretend that laying down spike strips is the only way to deal with the problem.

We'll, it works a lot better than what has been done so far.

No, it fucking doesn't, asshole because they are still fucking homeless. It's just that prissy ass people of means no longer have to look at the less fortunate. 

Or maybe I missed that these were magic spike strips that provided food, shelter, and gainful employment. Perhaps I should reread.

[gpw]

JFC that's horrible. I don't have much to add beyond what @helenabonhamcarter said so I'm just going to let her speak for me.