Homelessness is a problem in the United States and it’s only getting worse. And our local or state government’s solution of creating hostile architectures will not fix the problem.
Hostile architecture, also known as exclusionary design, are design elements used to guide behavior of the public. This is most often seen in public areas and in metropolitan cities.
It normally consists of spikes, bumps, or obstacles to hinder people from sitting, laying down or riding a vehicle (including bicycles and skateboards.) But more infamously, this type of architecture is used to deter people from sleeping on benches and under covered areas.
This “solution” to homelessness is nothing more than a small Band-Aid on a gaping wound.
In January of 2023, 653,104 people in the U.S. were homeless, which marked around a 12% increase from the previous year. One-sixth of that number is in California alone, but this makes sense considering California has about a sixth of the American population anyway. But what is being done to combat the homelessness problem?
Surely the American government would be spending as much as they can to make sure all of the citizens under its jurisdiction are safe and able to thrive? Well, not quite.
The Biden administration awarded $3.16 billion to communities around the country in order to alleviate homelessness. This sounds like a lot of money, and it is, until you look at how much is spent everywhere else, like funding national security and defense.
So, not only are cities actively waging war on people already down on their fortunes by installing hostile architecture into their public spaces, they’re spending a lot of money to do so. While there are no official numbers on the total amount spent on these exclusionary designs, we can make some estimates.
In 2021, the city of Portland, Oregon decided to invest $500,000 in order to install anti-homeless benches and other hostile architecture for just one of the city’s parks.
These are present in Arkansas as well and closer than you think. There are plenty of benches in downtown Jonesboro that have been fitted with an extra “armrest” that is placed in the middle of the seat. You can also see them in Little Rock, Fayetteville and my hometown of Hot Springs.
Before I go deeper into this, just imagine what could have been done to help homeless people instead of actively making their lives even harder. Local and state governments could have invested money into a shelter or a program that helps them find some sort of employment, so they can afford housing and basic needs. But rather than fixing the problem at the source, Portland decided to just make it harder for homeless people to find a place to sleep.
And that’s not the only use for hostile architecture, although it is the most heinous. This is also used to deter skaters, even though using that money to build a skate park would satisfy both skaters and those who are trying to avoid skaters.
I know comparison breeds contempt, but it’s hard not to compare these estimated amounts to the whopping $916 billion that the U.S. spends on defense every year. How could we ignore the hundreds of thousands of people begging on the streets for better livelihoods and conditions, when our government chooses to send $3.8 billion to a war in Israel? Especially when very few Americans want to be involved with it in the first place.
Installing hostile architecture isn’t the way to solve the actual problem, it’s just treating the symptoms.
The use of hostile architecture is a scourge on downtown areas around the country and it needs to stop. Unfortunately, it will only stop when people in power decide to fix the problems at the source, rather than punish everyone for the problem’s existence.
Categories: Opinion
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