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We must end rough sleeping but hostile architecture must go too (www.bigissue.com)

submitted 5 days ago by okwithmydecay@leminal.space to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk

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Norwich City Council, in apparent solidarity with rough sleepers, are taking away armrests from public benches so that night sleepers can stretch out more. This is an endeavour to be more supportive of those reduced to turning public spaces into temporary dormitories.

For perhaps the last 20 years many local authorities and private property owners have been doing the exact opposite. Putting metal bolts on flat spaces so that they become impossible to sit on, let alone lie on. ‘Social dislodgement’ you might call it; architectural solutions to social problems. One of the canniest inventions was to turn bus shelter seats slightly tilted so that after a short time you began to slip off.

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[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 33 points 5 days ago

To separate rough sleeping (sleeping outside) from homelessness (not having a home).

Someone who has no official address, but is sleeping on the floor in a friend's house temporarily is homeless but not rough sleeping.

Someone who has a home and address, but isn't able to go there for some reason (often escaping from domestic violence) may end up "sleeping rough" i.e. outside on a bench, in a tent or shop doorway.

Many other variations/examples obviously, and plenty of cases of both together.

Both situations need slightly different support.