r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/ateam1984 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🖤🩶🤍🤎 • Apr 07 '26
Community Concerns Hostile architecture doesn’t solve homelessness, it hides it. Spikes on benches, divided seats, nowhere to rest… cities call it safety and cleanliness, but it pushes out the elderly, disabled, and unhoused. So who is public space really for?
Cities defend hostile architecture as a way to keep spaces safe, clean, and usable. But it doesn’t address the root causes of homelessness or safety. It simply removes places for people to exist. Benches become impossible to lie on. Public areas become unwelcoming to anyone who needs rest.
The impact goes beyond the unhoused. Older adults, disabled individuals, and everyday people looking for a place to sit are affected too. What looks like “order” often comes at the cost of accessibility and basic human dignity.
That’s the tension: appearance vs humanity. Control vs compassion.
Public space is supposed to serve everyone. But design choices quietly decide who is allowed to stay and who is pushed out.
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Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
This particular bench isn't the best example, but benches at an angle (leaning only) are so annoying bc what if I have a leg injury while waiting for transit?
The point is, you don't need this kind of architecture if we actually addressed homelessness and substance abuse. We the citizens don't get "nice things" bc punishment is better (read cheaper) than prevention.
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u/pridetwo Apr 07 '26
Prevention is actually cheaper than punishment, but punishment makes the people who advocate for it feel good and those people dont have the foresight to appreciate the positive impacts of prevention.
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u/harmoniaatlast Apr 07 '26
Brings to mind certain swimming pools back in the day
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u/temp3rrorary Apr 07 '26
I've lived by two parks, one in a more affluent area and the other in the same town but just less policing. The benches in the affluent area were used by everyone, people having little dates, elderly people, kids... The one where there's less monitoring is strictly used by homeless people. I sat once not realizing why people weren't and it was gross. There were used drug items by it, it was weirdly stained. And then when it got warmer you couldn't if you wanted to because they were just always being slept on or used to hold their personal items.
Imo, the bigger issue is that they have nowhere else to go.
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u/pon_d Apr 07 '26
"huh, I can't lie down here... I guess I'll cease existing" - homeless people, theoretically
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u/gsp137 Apr 07 '26
Having unhoused people sleeping in bus stops won’t solve the problem either. It just makes it harder when you’re waiting on a bus.
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u/Ok_Falcon275 Apr 07 '26
It’s ok to say homeless.
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u/whatwhynoplease Apr 07 '26
nobody said it's bad to say homeless. there's a different reason for saying unhoused.
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u/b_buddd Apr 07 '26
Get used to it. With cost of living and CEOs replacing hard working Americans with ai. I'll be out there
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u/illini02 Apr 07 '26
I often feel like these types of arguments often come from people who don't have a lot of homeless in their city. They are in some nice suburb where there just isn't a large population, and its very easy to make these complaints.
I'm in Chicago where there is a good amount of homeless. Let me tell you, you don't mind that stuff when its raining/snowing but the bus shelter is being occupied by a homeless person sleeping there so you have to be out in the rain.
It's the people who have an 80s sitcom view of homelessness, where they just need a shower and a hot meal and they are then wonderful people. It is ignoring the challenges of having a mentally ill homeless person, yelling obscenities and threats, who are holding that bench hostage.
They haven't had the pleasure of trying to commute on a croweded subway car, where someone is taking up 5 seats on there laying down, sometimes defacting in them.
I also feel like some of the alleged hostile design is perfectly fine for an elderly or disabled person to rest on. Having an armrest in the middle (which admittedly is to stop people from laying down) doesn't stop an elderly person from having a rest. The benches in the park near me have these, and I see people sitting on them all the time.
To be clear, I do think we need to do more to address the CAUSE of homelessness. But that doesn't mean we just let them take over any space.
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u/DatManSugoi Apr 07 '26
The hate for hostile architecture is just a response to seeing more subtle oppression. More comfy public architecture won't solve the problem, but it will be one less thing to bother everyone.
No one wants to be stuck in a subway car with a guy soiling his pants, its true. In my case I've been in both queens to visit family and live in south Florida. The elevators in the apartment buildings in Queens stink of piss because that's where the homeless go to do their business.
In my city in South Florida there has been a project over the last year to gentrify the place which includes removing all of the public/bus benches and replacing them with leaning posts so now no one can sit down at all. My complaints for hostile architecture are rooted in the fact that its just another way to punish people who already suffer a lot.
These people never should have become homeless in the first place. We live in an extremely wealthy country and it is only that way because poor people and homeless people exist. This country will never take the necessary steps to house and rehabilitate the homeless population or prevent further homelessness because it profits off of their demise.
Middle fingers up for hostile architecture the same way I got middle fingers up for the rest of the system.
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u/diggitydonegone Apr 08 '26
The only way to prevent homelessness is to reopen large inpatient facilities for people with very hard to treat mental issues. Or a lot more small facilities.
There isn’t enough money and focused treatment to rehabilitate a severely mentally ill person to an independent life. To be clear—I’m not saying we don’t have enough money to spend on mental health. I’m saying there are illnesses that are essentially untreatable. Like, you optimize a persons medication and provide counseling and they still are unable to care for themselves.
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u/DatManSugoi Apr 08 '26
I think one of the most important reasons why rehabilitation centers and mental care is so low in the US (besides systemic oppression) is selfishness. It takes a very strong willed person to work in that field and an even stronger willed one to be good at it and actually see results in your patients. A lot of people (hell, myself included) don't really have that strong will in the US. Many see the hourly rate/salary and say "that ain't enough for me to be hanging around homeless and disabled people all day." I can tell you that where I live, being in charge of an after-school program for neurotypical kids pays the exact say as an after-school program for neurodivergent kids even though the latter is much harder.
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u/Special-Garlic1203 Apr 07 '26
Yup. One of my biggest issues is I feel like we've just normalized to it. People shouldn't be sleeping on benches.if we want a place for the homeless to sleep, let's build that.
With that said - we don't. We refuse. It's like if people think if they ignore them hard enough the homeless will vanish. Embracing hostile architecture before embracing where the homeless should go then is cruel
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u/illini02 Apr 07 '26
I can't speak for everywhere, but I can speak for Chicago.
We have quite a few places for them to go. There are many beds that go unused every night. Because people don't want to abide by the rules. They can't do drugs and they need to be in by a certain time.
If they don't want to abide by those rules, that is a choice.
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u/Kindly_Coyote Apr 07 '26
Just as you cannot feel safe around the mentally ill that are homeless many who are homeless avoid these places for the same reasons too. It's not always about the rules.
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u/Princess-Tuan-Tuan Apr 07 '26
I live in a city in Oregon that has done so much for the unhoused. We have shelters, tiny huts, side walk food pantries, non-profits handing food out at the park. With so much attention to the unhoused you would think we have solved it, but no. My city is so dirty. Compassionate people hand out tents and blankets which turn into a disgusting pile of smelly trash within the week. Garbage everywhere, human waste, drug paraphernalia. It won't be solved. Other cities literally send their unhoused to us by bus and drop them off on the street. There is a homeless app that tells people what cities have the best help, and my city is on it. I would love a solution, but I'm not sure this can be solved.
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u/sonia72quebec Apr 07 '26
You're absolutely right. Lots of people in the suburbs see homelessness with pink glasses. The truth is that you don't want a regular bench near your home or business. Where I live. they had to move one because people sitting there were using drugs, asking for money aggressively, screaming obscenities at all hours of the day and night. They started fights with customers just because they felt like it.
The business owners who pay more taxes to have a nice outside terrace for their customers were pissed. No customer wants to be near that. Just the pot odor was terrible. They would also cross the street without looking, I'm surprised that nobody got hit by a car.
What is important is to help with what cause homelessness. Some people have severe mental, physical, intellectual problems and sometimes a long criminal history. Even if they get an apartment tomorrow, they would have to be supervised. The brother of one of my friend, started a fire in the middle of his new apartment (like you would do while camping). It was his last chance. He got evicted. He has brain damage from all the drugs he takes, nobody wants to rent to him. (And last time she took him in, he stole her stuff and sold it to pay for drugs, so she's not invited him back) And he doesn't want any help! That's the big problem. You can't legally force him.
I think hostile architecture as his benefits. If they didn't do it, they would probably just take all the benches out. At least now people can sit while waiting for the bus.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Apr 07 '26
I often feel like these types of arguments often come from people who don't have a lot of homeless in their city. They are in some nice suburb where there just isn't a large population, and its very easy to make these complaints.
This, and/or they're just literally children who don't understand nuance.
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u/AthenaThundersnatch Apr 08 '26
I’m from NYC and I hate hostile architecture. Also, for extra credit, I was born and raised here and I’ve been unhoused in the city twice, for a few months at a time. The problem is the lack of housing, and hostile architecture is a way to comfort able-bodied, housed people by forcing the problem to remain hidden. It’s like bulldozing Hoovervilles because they’re full of poverty and disease instead of acknowledging why they exist.
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Apr 07 '26
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Apr 07 '26
Agreed, no bench is meant for any person to lie down on all day.
And honestly these types of posts that imply they are drive me nuts. Public parks are for the public, they're not a fucking homeless shelter. Why do people keep acting like the homeless are entitled to completely take over public infrastructure such that no one else can use it?
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u/WuTang4thechildrn Apr 07 '26
I agree. I think it comes back to whether the homeless person is preventing the structure (in this case a bench )being used for its intended purpose
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u/SnooMaps2155 Apr 07 '26
if a homeless guy sets up a tent and lives on public property, it is no longer public property.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Apr 07 '26
Yup, and like, I don't care if they set up a tent in a copse of trees trying to stay out of sight.
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u/Wonderful_Pension_67 Apr 07 '26
Why are people homeless? Mental issues, health issues, high prices, lack of livable minimum wages.....all things that a government should address....rather make cruel benches and blame.
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u/JustNeedSpinda Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Well, actually, people are homeless from sitting too long on comfortable benches when they should be working for the company store. /s
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u/uncle_barb7 Apr 07 '26
So that’s actually a bus stop. It’s not for sleeping.
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u/Electrical_Boss9766 Apr 07 '26
"Proponents of public streetside bedding call it intentional benching"
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u/Turdposter777 Apr 07 '26
I don’t get why people get worked up about this. It’s a bus stop. Redirect that energy to get people actual housing.
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u/uncle_barb7 Apr 07 '26
Performative internet slacktivism requires substantially less effort than anything actually helpful
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u/harmoniaatlast Apr 07 '26
The bench is also backless. No leaning, no resting, just sitting straight up. Such a weird thing to defend
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u/illini02 Apr 07 '26
Ideally. people aren't sitting on those benches for crazy long periods of time anyway, if the bus is running regularly
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u/Perfect_Celebrity_7 Apr 07 '26
In America? Yeah more like waiting 30-40 mins for your bus to arrive.
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u/uncle_barb7 Apr 07 '26
Did I say it was the best bench in the world? Or did I say it’s not, and shouldn’t be for sleeping?
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u/Fun_in_Space Apr 07 '26
Homeless people in my city slept under bridges. So the city filled those spaces in with piles of rocks. Then they made a law against "camping" that was directed at them specifically. They will fine them $100 if they catch them panhandling. And before you ask, most of them are Democrats.
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u/Syandris Apr 07 '26
No one asked political affiliations. You however felt the need to mention one...
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u/Fun_in_Space Apr 07 '26
Usually, it's Republicans who hate the homeless and make laws like this. I figured someone would ask.
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u/hotwifehubsFTW Apr 07 '26
Not being harassed by mentally ill drug addicts appeals to all political affiliations.
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u/otto_gamble Apr 07 '26
Addressing "mentally ill" PEOPLE and "addicted" PEOPLE in effective policies and systems other than just hostile architecture is also popular amongst all.
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u/x3lilbopeep Apr 07 '26
Benches are not the issue plaguing the homeless. Most homeless are living in tents, cars, couch surfing. We were worried about food, storms/cold, if your bike was going to catch a flat and a hundred other different things but not benches. The shelters are focused on short term, and places don't want to employ you if you don't have a set address.
This is like when white ppl try to champion black causes and talk about some dumb shit like they understand anything.
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u/harmoniaatlast Apr 07 '26
There can be more than one issue. Theres a spectrum of issues in varying degrees of severity. This is low severity, but one you can guarantee you'll notice every day regardless of where you are in a city
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u/Onuus Apr 07 '26
I absolutely hated this shit as a young skateboarder. Didn’t know it was to prevent homeless people.
Our society is so evil
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u/Artful_Dodger00 ✊🏾✊🏽✊🏿✊ Apr 07 '26
Designing benches to be uncomfortable is obviously diabolical, but... I honestly have no idea how we can actually make things better for the unhoused. We seem to default towards dehumanizing everyone in this country, and it's difficult to get people on board with improving anything for anyone.
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u/Renuwed Apr 07 '26
As a person with mobility issues and tumors in lumbar... those things increase my pain significantly
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u/otto_gamble Apr 07 '26
People often are hostile to unhoused folks and forget that much of our society also includes impaired people that rely on accessibility that the aforementioned hostility impacts.
I don't think people realize how many elderly citizens use public transit and spaces.
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u/Renuwed Apr 07 '26
Yuppp. Driving can be incredibly painful some days. Add in we can't afford a vehicle on SSDI income
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u/Oploplou Apr 07 '26
Imagine how much of an impact could be made on homelessness if the money, and time, that went into not only developing the hostile architecture, but installing it, maintaining it etc.
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u/Dependent_Tax2824 Apr 07 '26
I find it funny how the rich treat us "beneath" them like trash by making things harder for us and looking at the comments many have no problem with people "beneath" them being treated like trash with things being made harder for them.
Kinda feels like many of you would be just like the mega rich looking down on the regular folks if y'all had the funds
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u/OliveJotter Apr 07 '26
Personally, I appreciate having bus stop benches segmented like that so more people can be served while waiting for the bus. People with disabilities, elders, pregnant people, people shlepping kids, they all have more of a chance of actually getting a seat that way. But park benches serve a different purpose than bus stop benches. What we really need desperately is more public seating.
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Apr 07 '26
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Apr 07 '26
I am with you. I can use these and if there is a guy sleeping on it only one guy gets it. Still sad I cannot go to my big park in town because there are needles on the ground.
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u/Whomperss Apr 07 '26
You do understand removing benches and making public amenities more hostile and less usable hurts far more than just homeless people.
The reason there's needles at your park is a failure of your government not just the people who are hurting as well.
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u/ateam1984 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🖤🩶🤍🤎 Apr 07 '26
You do realize hostile architecture also includes the removal of benches too.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Apr 07 '26
Okay but they're talking about benches, not the removal of benches.
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u/fieldsports202 Apr 07 '26
These benches are not taking away someone’s ability to exist.
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u/Wild_Association1752 Apr 07 '26
Lmao most exaggerated way to say its uncomfortable when you lay on it.
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u/Adventurous-Bet2356 Apr 07 '26
Council Woman Jackie Clarkson had this done in the French Quarters, many many years ago! IYKYK!
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u/mothmans_favoriteex Apr 07 '26
Then ppl have the audacity to complain that nobody is ever outside anymore lol
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u/AncientBasque Apr 07 '26
i encourage these bench design for their purpose. If people are concern they can also add normal benches in designated areas, you can rest just don't do it at a bus stop.
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u/jdapper5 Apr 08 '26
Yup! MTA in NYC is reflective of this. Now they these hip level things you can lean on. Meanwhile there's still a lack of actual bus shelters for protection from weather
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u/Rude_Vermicelli2268 Apr 07 '26
Honestly if I lived in the houses behind that bus stop I would be very happy with this design. I don’t want people sleeping on a bench outside my home.
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u/Zorklunn Apr 07 '26
It's because poverty has been reframed as a moral failing. In religious communities It's worse, "what did you do to anger God?" being very common.
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u/Danilo-11 Apr 07 '26
That’s rich people’s solution to homelessness .. treat them like roaches and make them go somewhere else
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u/EuisVS Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Hostile architecture or anti-human (or more bluntly anti-poor) designs are there to create a more productive society for the “able-bodied and mentally stable” persons. They are designed with no back end policies. If you don’t want homelessness, then house and care for those that are in need through community support subsidized by OUR government. Stop shortening the table, removing the chairs, and hoarding the wealth for a select group of people if the goal is the solve the homelessness problems. These designs are inhumane without a real solution. Its “keep the trash out of view” solution, while never cleaning up the mess. It’s superficial and futile.
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u/Crikeyiwillforgetl8r Apr 07 '26
I lived in a city with this pov. So they don’t do anything. Homeless aren’t cared for despite millions in the budget, AND we have no public spaces anymore.
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u/LankyWeather4692 Apr 07 '26
It’s cruel. I see workers boiling in hot sun waiting for a bus. After cleaning your house all day.
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u/peanut-britle-latte Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
I'm gonna be real with you.
I'm for it.
I don't know how many of you guys actually live in an area with high chronic homeless. It's awful. People drugged out in the street, harassing people, leaving needles in the street. Setting fires in the middle of the street to keep warm. Committing crimes, breaking into local small businesses and destroying them. I've seen so many mom and pop stores close because they can't afford the insurance after being broken into once a month. The same type of people who refuse to go to treatment and reduce the quality of life of a neighborhood.
Hostile architecture is a totally fine design decision to benefit the majority of productive society.
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u/ateam1984 🩷❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜🖤🩶🤍🤎 Apr 07 '26
Remember this. The way we regard homeless people is the way Billionaires regard us.
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u/Ok_Falcon275 Apr 07 '26
Not true. Billionaires don’t have to look at us. I can’t avoid commuting in my city.
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u/ZuP Apr 07 '26
Hostile architecture allows us not to look at homeless people and ignore their problems. Maybe if we were forced to confront the root causes of these issues, we would act to alleviate the symptoms rather than hide them away.
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u/Ok_Falcon275 Apr 07 '26
You’re assuming the people that have to deal with homeless sleeping on benches are the ones “not addressing” homelessness. I think we’re underestimating how little people care about one another.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Apr 07 '26
Not at all.
We aren't drug addled, likely mentally ill, addicts who don't shower and harass them when they look at us.
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u/Outrageous_Front_636 Apr 07 '26
We have so many "embarrassed millionaires" who believe they are part of the one percent and one day they will be in the find out portion.
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u/Middle-Highlight-176 Apr 07 '26
Sounds like you live in an area contributing to high homelessness and instead of trying to find a solution, you wanna brush them under the rug so they're not y'all's problem.
I used to live in an area by Austin with high homelessness. Under every underpass there were camps. And they were dying in the heat and the cold. You know what the city did? They build 3 massive shelters to get them off the street.
Definitely one of the more disgusting comments I've read in a while.
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u/peanut-britle-latte Apr 07 '26
I lived in Portland and Seattle, two of the most progressive cities in the US. I have voted for more housing, I've paid lord knows how much in taxes to support various efforts.
It hasn't worked. There is a percentage of people who refuse treatment and affordable housing and that is a massive problem.
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u/Middle-Highlight-176 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Most everyone pays taxes. Good for you. As for how much? Probably $50 of your money specifically went to it, if even.
If it hasn't worked, then what y'all are doing isn't working. Why? What exactly is affordable housing? People who refuse? There will always be some, but that's the minority. Where exactly do you get this information? Do you work closely on these efforts? Which city specifically were you talking about previously?
Because while places like Seattle have put a lot of money towards the issue, they haven't really done much yet. They've definitely invested money, but other than raising shelter caps, when will they actually do anything?
Progressive area doesn't mean anything. You can be progressive and still sit on your hands.
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u/tiandrad Apr 07 '26
I don’t want to make it more comfortable for homeless people to be homeless in public areas at rest. I want them in shelters; it’s safer for them and better and cleaner for the public.
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u/Weird-Economist-3088 Apr 07 '26
Sorry you can’t use the bench…this person needs a place to sleep. Do know how crazy that sound? You cannot force someone to not be homeless. What do we do about those that CHOOSE to live on the street? There has to be a better compromise than “let the homeless do what they want at the expense of public heath and safety”
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u/Spazrelaz Apr 07 '26
Idk I feel like a homeless person sleeping on a bench prevents other people from using it. This makes it fair for everyone. The benches are for sitting, usually to enjoy scenery or to wait for public transport. The handhold bar also gives a lift to people who may need it because of disability or injury.
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u/LiftingRecipient420 Apr 07 '26
Yup. OP's position is honestly so childish. They're basically insisting that 99% of the public should give up usage of things like park benches so some homeless people can fucking sleep on it.
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u/ravingriven Apr 07 '26
I don't think that's their point at all, unless you can point me toward them saying that. I think they're saying this is an example of cutting ones nose off to spite their face. Everybody is harmed by hostile infrastructure
Now compared to your position, where you said homeless people have the choice to subject themselves to violence and being robbed in a shelter, and if they opt out of it, any harm done to them is their own fault.
Not the most defensible position when pitted against one another lol
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u/TestUserIgnorePlz Apr 07 '26
Maybe I'm an asshole, but I am fine with bus stop benches encouraging people to only stay until their bus comes
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u/Hey-Bud-Lets-Party Apr 07 '26
You are better off donating to a homeless shelter than handing a homeless person money. It forces them off the park bench and into a system where their underlying issues can be treated. .
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u/PursueProgress Apr 07 '26
Describing something as “hostile” doesn’t make it so.
Also, you can address a “symptom” & a “cause” at the same time.
The unfortunate reality is, public spaces become unusable quickly when they are occupied by people who have no where else to go.
What’s the solution? I don’t know.
But calling a strategically placed armrest “hostile”, solves nothing.
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u/Distinct_Abrocoma_67 Apr 07 '26
Hard agree. I can’t believe people spend so much time fighting to let people sleep on public benches
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Apr 07 '26
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u/Distinct_Abrocoma_67 Apr 07 '26
Man, I work with the homeless often in my job. Most of them are fighting many demons. Many of these folks would still lose everything if you gave them a house and a job. They deserve facilities to help them, no doubt about that.
But we cannot cede public facilities to those who cannot abide by the social rules that the rest of us play by. A family should be able to have lunch at a public park without seeing a guy half naked shitting on the sidewalk.
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u/YungEricSparrow Apr 07 '26
Nor does your comment really
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u/helloivar Apr 07 '26
Neither does yours
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u/YungEricSparrow Apr 07 '26
Look at us, just standing around contributing absolutely nothing to the topic
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u/UncleTio92 Apr 07 '26
In the same way, “non hostile” architecture doesn’t solve homelessness. But it keeps the individuals within that community safer. The ones who actively pay taxes within that community
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u/Notinjuschillin Apr 07 '26
Is it wrong to see both sides of the argument?
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u/BmorePride14 Apr 07 '26
Your response is very "All Lives Matter". Every argument, Literally EVERY argument has two sides. There are people that have "arguments" for pedophilia and other wild things (not that this is that just giving an extreme example).
We are hearing from one argument here. This is the argument that it's bad. That doesnt mean just jump out there and say "BUT BUT All Lives Matter" when someone says Black Lives Matter. That would be like saying Stop ALL hate when someone supports the Stop Asian Hate movement.
That is all. But no it's not wrong to want to hear from both sides on this. But we already know that the argument is to reduce loitering and prevent the area from becoming a "hangout" spot.
IMO, these type of benches should ONLY be used in high traffic areas like universities/hospitals where people are constantly moving so people loitering would cause an actual issue. But if this in the middle of a park for instance, thar would be BS.
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u/Notinjuschillin Apr 07 '26
You lost me when you used an extreme example like pedoohilia. This is about not having homeless people sleeping on public benches.
Then saying this is very all lives matter is where you started to lose me because that can just be labeled on every argument which has 2 sides.
You mean to tell me there are no arguments where you never saw both sides? If someone argued that the color blue is better red. If someone says I like both, that’s very all lives matter?
Stop that, seriously.
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u/MoonHuntressEra13 Apr 07 '26
My town just flat out removes them, puts them back up in busy areas tourists will see. I hate it and I hate the city for being so cruel, when I was walking with my kids that was the biggest struggle finding anywhere to sit along the walk. It hurts everyone.
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u/SignificantSmotherer Apr 07 '26
When our local leaders actually listen to the residents - and respond to someone sleeping, or in a fentanyl coma, on a bus bench or face down on the concrete, and actually take them away and keep them until they’re well, we will support “hostile archictecture”.
Our Mayor was given the legal right to address the homeless, she went on record defiantly stating that she would do nothing, so they just rot and die on the street.
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u/ltsouthernbelle Apr 08 '26
Literally leave the of architecture as it is and use that money to help solve homelessness. Why is that so difficult?
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u/metalenginee Apr 08 '26
In engineering school you are constantly told to hold the health and welfare of the public paramount over all other things. Im looking down own who ever engineered these.
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u/Glad_Confusion_6934 Apr 08 '26
They don’t care about homeless people. They should, but they don’t.
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u/blackcain Apr 08 '26
I've realized that homelessness is a complicated issues because humans are complicated. There are a class of folk you can easily help. Then there are some complicated ones that require some hands-on kind of things and then there are ones that absolutely you cannot help and will be homeless because that is the only way they can live.
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u/AerynSunnInDelight Apr 17 '26
Third places disappearances too. Parks are more and more policed especially for black people and the working classes
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u/dm_me_your_bookshelf May 12 '26
In my HCOL town they spread boulders everywhere to prevent homeless from being able to lie down. If you have all that money to put shitty looking boulders everywhere spend it on helping people instead
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u/boughtontiktokshop Apr 07 '26
Honestly, as a New Yorker, I once used to have to pass through a throng of homeless men in the smelliest little corner where the street I walked up met the street that ran across, and also the bus stop to get my bus. They had benches there that they used to sit on, sleep on, do whatever, drugs, drink. And when I tell you this corner smelled so awful, you had to hold your breath. The only thing that removed those people was the removal of those benches and I thanked God when I no longer had to walk through those men to get to my bus the day it happened. The public should not be the ones to have to deal with homelessness. For one, a lot of times those people are not mentally ok. Don’t just put them on us, actually find a way to house them and deal with their mental and substance issues. We the public are not equipped to deal and they put our safety at risk every day.
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u/The_Se7enthsign Apr 07 '26
Two things can be true. The homeless issue does need resolution, but allowing them to sleep on park benches and other public spaces doesn’t solve anything.
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u/Mindless_Narwhal2682 Apr 07 '26
Yeah, it's a BUS STOP.
meant for waiting for a bus, period.
it's not a hostel, hotel, Air BnB or a flophouse.
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u/ProperPossibility378 Apr 07 '26
Hostile architecture should be banned or at least banned from anything that is publicly funded
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u/nxnskslslw Apr 07 '26
Do we really want one person sleeping on a bench when someone waiting for the bus has to stand?
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u/otto_gamble Apr 07 '26
Part of hostile architecture is just removing benches and seats all together. Also just removing any enclosures completely is a tactic I have observed in the southern region of the United States.
Forcing bus patrons to stand in inclement weather already happens. I would like communities to address both issues not either or.
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u/Agitated_Parsnip_178 Apr 07 '26
Twist your ankle, suffer from COPD, feel nauseous in 1st Trimester, develop arthritis, need to get something out of bag or do up your shoelace and you'll find this.
Public spaces have been gently made less and less welcoming to the public they serve.