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(#1) By Installing Spikes Where Homeless People Sleep
In 2014, several private buildings in London and Montreal installed spikes in the ground in an attempt to stop homeless people from sleeping there. This met with public outrage. Protestors poured concrete over spikes that cropped up outside of a Tesco supermarket. Over 130,000 people signed a petition in favor of their removal, and the mayors of both cities spoke out against them. The spikes were eventually removed from Montreal and London due to their unpopularity.
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(#11) By Placing Locking Mechanisms On Garbage Cans
Homeless people sometimes rummage through the trash for food. It's not an ideal way for anyone to get a meal, but it might be their only choice. But now, many garbage cans are designed in such a way that it's difficult to get to what's inside. Locking mechanisms stop people from opening the can from the outside, and "rain hoods" make reaching in from the top just about impossible.
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(#12) By Shaming Homeless People On Social Media
In 2015, a New York City police union requested that members photograph homeless people and post the images on Flickr. The practice was extremely controversial; some felt it shamed homeless people and blamed them for their situation, while others felt that it opened a desperately needed dialogue about the problem of homelessness and how to solve it.
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(#5) By Destroying Homeless People's Belongings
The California transit bureau conducts massive raids, during which officials round up and destroy homeless people's belongings by tossing them into a garbage compactor. This can include everything from tents and garbage bags to cell phones and personal documents. In one particularly harrowing incident, a tent was crushed while someone's cat was still inside.
Besides the loss of personal property, these types of raids can dramatically impede any progress a homeless person might make toward getting off the streets. You can't exactly get a job if you don't have a phone or documents proving your identity. Several lawsuits are in progress to attempt to stop this practice.
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(#9) By Forcing People Into Shelters
Many cities attempt to move homeless people off the street and into designated shelters. While shelters can be a blessing for some, others want nothing to do with them, and for good reason. According to James Pirtle, who was interviewed by NPR about his experiences with homelessness, "You hear a lot of terrible things about shelters, that shelters are dangerous places, that they're full of drugs and drug dealers, that people will steal your shoes, and there's bedbugs and body lice. And yeah, unfortunately a lot of those things are true."
In order to force homeless people into shelters, some cities support drastic measures. In Pinellas County, FL, one proposal involved putting individuals who refused to be relocated into pre-trial solitary confinement until they changed their minds.
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(#10) By Putting In Coin-Operated Benches
In Yentai Park in Shandong Province, China, there's yet another thing preventing homeless people from sitting down. Coin-operated benches were originally a concept designed by a sculptor named Fabian Brunsing. He didn't mean for them to be used in real life, but China has adopted the concept.
If a person sits on one of these benches for more than a few minutes without inserting a coin, an alarm will sound, and spikes will come out. The spikes aren't sharp enough to do serious damage, but they still hurt.
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About This Tool
Whether in developing or developed countries, there are thousands of homeless people in almost every city. The main cause of homelessness is poverty. Other causes include long-term unemployment, domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, mental illness, etc. However, people cannot see homeless people in some cities. Many governments will adopt some reasonable or cruel policies to hide the homeless populations in order to create a prosperous, peaceful and beautiful city scene.
They are leaning on crutches or walking aids or sitting in dilapidated wheelchairs. People can see dirty sleeping bags, tilted tents, and piles of trash in the homes where homeless people live. Even in the cold winter, they wandered the streets in ragged clothes. With the generator, you could learn more about different ways that the cities hiding their homeless populations.
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