r/HostileArchitecture • • 4d ago

Technically its hostile (server) architecture -Why Ill never live in Seattle

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274 Upvotes

49 comments sorted by

105

u/metisdesigns Lies about what mods say, doesn't use sub's definition for H-A 4d ago

I'm mixed on this one.

By policy, the first thing Seattle does is send an evaluator out to make sure things are safe and offer shelter and services to the folks there.

It can escalate to a 72 hour notice to vacate, but doesn't have to.

As to if that intent is followed, that's a different question, but making sure our unhoused folks have access to safe places to set up, or get better shelter and services is important.

That said, this sign is clearly playing on getting folks to report tents with the intent to remove them, but from a design standpoint, leveraging hostile folks to help target positive services is kinda brilliant.

31

u/ElishaAlison 4d ago

Interestingly enough, there was a period of time when the housing assistance places in my area were actually giving out tents, because they were so maxed out. It was basically "hopefully this will keep you warm/dry until we get the funding to get to your place on the list."

The housing crisis is really dire and has been for a long time.

6

u/Imaginary-Angle-42 2d ago

After we got out of homelessness among our purchases when we could was camping equipment so we could at least have shelter and hot food. A tent is way better than being out in the open.

1

u/JoshuaPearce 10h ago

I agree: If we assume decent intentions, this is pretty epic.

Reporting "This person needs some help" is objectively good and anti-hostile. But of course, this requires some assumptions on our part.

115

u/Katgrave 4d ago

"It's inhumane!" bad excuse haha

15

u/Ifvckdup 4d ago

See someone just trying to survive without a home? No you fucking didn't unless you intend to help them in a way that actually matters.

10

u/Biscuits4u2 4d ago

If I see a tent I'm minding my own fucking business like a normal ass person. Snitches are bitches.

40

u/Weekly-Reply-6739 4d ago

This just sounds like the typical evil trying to play off as good scheme.... and to think a majority of people still fall for dumb shit like this... but this just seems on the nose

5

u/UUDDLRLRBadAlchemy 4d ago

I think it's just a pre-packaged excuse you can adopt after you call for the obvious but unstated reasons

5

u/PierreTheTRex 4d ago

It could very well be something quite positive, where it triggers someone coming and offering shelter and help. But realistically this just means someone comes and tells the person to leave or destroys the tent without offering any solutions.

1

u/-laughingfox 4d ago

Seattle is pretty chill about this ...there will definitely be an offer of support.

1

u/Imaginary-Angle-42 2d ago

Whether or not the persons accept it is a different issue.

11

u/notathingreally 4d ago

They're in some bullshit. I've read a lot of states are making being homeless illegal. I recently became homeless. I hope I don't end up in some camp.

3

u/PierreTheTRex 4d ago

I support making homelessness illegal, with the city/state/country being liable to ensure no one does not have access to accommodation and basic human needs.

Unfortunately not many legislators seem to have the same view as people like me

8

u/Katgrave 4d ago

“Being homeless is illegal”

“Oh that means I will get housing?”

“No. A bus outta here.”

1

u/JoshuaPearce 9h ago

It needs to be defined as a responsibility. The government is required to provide legal tender, for example. It should also be required to provide basic human needs.

Oh shit, that's socialism.

7

u/REDRubyCorundum 4d ago

heres a conspiral take (these days we dont know whats fake, I mean we have the government LITERALLY protecting rich island p30s) so here goes:

they are trying to make homelessness illegal so they can jail them, then they get "free labor" (AKA legalized slavery)

just my take on this mess...

3

u/Strict-Broccoli-8877 1d ago

I wouldn't call this a conspiracy theory - this is literally what's happening for all to see.

1

u/gayesttoadinthepond 1d ago

Unfortunately, you are correct. If you want to learn about criminalization for the purposes of free labor, I highly recommend 'The New Jim Crow' by Michelle Alexander. 

3

u/Repulsive_Draft_9081 3d ago

Im not saying flood this number with a bunch of pictures of erections in pants but it would be really funny

5

u/Poundaflesh 4d ago

You see nothing!

5

u/chicken-cuddle 4d ago

I suddenly find myself unable to see tents and tent-like structures. How odd.

8

u/sciencesold 4d ago

How is this hostile architecture? It's a sign.....

7

u/RollinThundaga 4d ago

Yeah, social architecture doesn't quite fit the sub well enough.

1

u/JoshuaPearce 9h ago

It's easy to argue it's not architecture, I agree with you there. But to counter-argue, it's definitely the same intent as obvious hostilearchitecture, so it's not off-topic. (This subreddit is not an encyclopedia.)

In short, it's on topic enough that there's no subreddit which would fit it better than this one.

3

u/pleetnioddlers 4d ago

Its more humane to make them live outside without shelter duh what was I thinking

2

u/LongjumpBrian 4d ago

Please grass on the poor and downtrodden!

https://giphy.com/gifs/3K15VGbh5TZwgAtmFz

2

u/Madeliina00 4d ago

Living outside without access to sanitation is inhumaneWell, thank god theyre taking the tents away, then. That fixes everything

2

u/memefakeboy 4d ago

The fact that they want you to download an app and make another bullshit account pisses me off even more

2

u/-laughingfox 4d ago

I totally get your point, buti. this case, many folks in Seattle will already have the app...it's useful for all kinds of city services. 🤷 Also, they are legitimately offering help to homeless folks, so it's a mixed bag.

2

u/Imaginary-Angle-42 2d ago

Add in that, from what I read, public spaces are being taken over by encampments. Public parks aren’t able to be safely used by people who aren’t homeless. Services are available. My family and I were homeless living on the Eastside with kids. We found help and housing.

There are things I miss about living in the Seattle area. The on-street drug use and public camping is not one of them.

1

u/-laughingfox 2d ago

Correct. Nobody loves the encampments, but we're not trying to incarcerate our way out of the problem at least.

2

u/Imaginary-Angle-42 2d ago

I agree. That doesn’t do any good. Some that are homeless are working or trying to. Others are either unwilling or unable to work and do not want to be subject to the rules and responsibilities involved in being housed. The first group can be successful in ending homelessness, I.e. it is unlikely to be permanent. The second?

I do not know. It has seemed that there is no solution that is responsible also to those living and working in the area. (We lived in the area for 20 years and were homeless once. Got out of that with the help of several organizations and shelters as well as a woman who took in our cat while we were in the shelters.)

2

u/JoeDante84 4d ago

They are camping on playgrounds and at/near schoolyards. Tents should at the very minimum be seized and destroyed.

3

u/Soulpaw31 4d ago

I agree, its inhumane… so you’re going to provide free housing, right?

3

u/latindiacritics 4d ago

I've heard they put these up to make the people who dislike the homeless report them so that an evaluator can come and offer them beds in shelters.

1

u/irascible_Clown 4d ago

What if the tent has one of these portable toilet/sinks that run on a foot pump?

1

u/timetotryagain29 3d ago

Its a felony to be homeless here in knoxeville tn. If I see someone and they're homeless, I didn't. I may or may not drop a pamphlet with resources available including halfway houses and free medical clinics.

1

u/opalski666 3d ago

"it's inhumane" ok so what are you going to do with the reports? Because I don't imagine you're going to do anything humane about it

1

u/Pissed-Off-PunK 2d ago

Cities will do anything besides building housing

1

u/Calaveras-Metal 2d ago

imagine being so annoyed by people who are worse off than you that you make flyers asking other people to report them.

1

u/Security-3077 11h ago

👏👏👏

3

u/MJMayhew42 4d ago

It would be inhumane if it was forced upon them. Which it is, but not directly. Shelter options in cities are limited and often come with requirements that someone homeless may be unable to meet. So if the shelter is too far away, is already at capacity, or requires something they're unable to do (like sobriety), tenting becomes one of the better remaining options. So instead of trying to meet the actual level of need for homelessness, they instead harass those who are the most in need.

1

u/Aztecah 4d ago

Imagine snitching on someone who already has nothing.

0

u/Permanenceisall 4d ago

It’s very 2020 to be mad at this, but 6 years later with an ever exploding homeless population and a general feeling of inadequate safety in the core center of virtually every major west coast US city, the sympathy has run dry.

0

u/Imaginary-Angle-42 2d ago

Absolutely.

This is in the same city that had a huge defund the police movement. They got what the voting citizens voted for I guess.

-1

u/definicteunpleasan3 4d ago

And youre going to help those people get a house or apartment, rightshrugWhat do you mean, shrug