#HTE

Urban Design Observations: Inhospitable, Anti-Homeless Furniture Hacks

Homeless people need help, and in New York City they are not getting it. Our homeless population has exploded in recent years; last year the number hit a record-breaking 60,000. This has led some business owners in my downtown Manhattan neighborhood to hack their outdoor furniture.

The streets immediately around me have seen steadily-increasing numbers of homeless since NYC Mayor de Blasio replaced Bloomberg in 2014. At night they seek shelter under scaffolding, beneath awnings, in doorways and on benches; virtually any unoccupied horizontal surface is a potential bed.

For the most part they are harmless. Many of them are also visibly mentally unwell. They urinate and defecate near where they sleep—it’s a fairly common sight—leading local business owners to shun them. Two nearby restaurants have modified their outdoor benches in the following manner.

Each night after they close, this restaurant lays these rusted rows of pointed teeth across their outdoor benches.

When it’s time to open, the restaurant workers remove them…

…and replace them with padded seating.

Further up the block, this other restaurant removes the slats of their cast-iron benches each night.

In the morning, a worker re-installs the slats.

The slats slide into grooves in each side of the bench.

They are registered to the center support with unfastened carriage bolts.

Until the problem of homelessness is addressed, we can expect to see more business owners finding creative ways to make street furniture less hospitable.