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Homelessness and Public Space:Unwelcome Visitors
Chris Middendorp, Hanover Inner North
Homelessness and Public Space:Unwelcome Visitors
By Chris Middendorp, Hanover Inner North
Throughout the world, from Tokyo to Texas, Manchester to Moscow, it’s been fashionable to try and outlaw homelessness. People are forced from public space by civil ordinances and assorted laws against loitering, begging and vagrancy.
In some instances, people are jailed for having nowhere to live. The breathtaking vulgarity and arrogance of this Zero Tolerance approach utterly ignores the underlying causes of homelessness. The approach is so brutally clumsy; it’s like trying to trim your fingernails with a chainsaw.
Australian governments like to pilfer the social and economic policies of other lands but we must never allow the criminalization of poverty to catch on here.
For a couple of years now, Melbourne’s tabloids and talk-radio demagogues – fueled by some powerful traders and resident groups – have been pushing for a vigorous clean-up of Melbourne’s CBD which, it is claimed, is in danger of being overrun by vagrants and beggars. Our ‘most livable’ city, they say, is going to hell in a handbasket.
There’s scant evidence to support this. There’s really no need to bring in jack-booted social policy to protect us from the poor. If anything, they may need protection from the rest of the community. From the implacable forces of consumerism and development which have rendered Melbourne’s public space increasingly unfriendly towards its disadvantaged citizens.
In recent years, I’ve seen some outlandish ways of ‘managing’ homelessness. Seats are removed from footpaths where people congregate. Tram stops are physically altered to make them difficult to sleep in. Alcoves and lanes all over town are now sealed off by metal gates. Bushes are cut down to discourage people from sleeping under them. The authorities might argue that it’s all done to make Melbourne a safer place. Safer? For whom?
How long before we usher in Zero Tolerance?
I could fulminate until the cows come home. But best I leave you with the words of some of Hanover’s clients. They are people who really know what it is like to live in public space.
‘The big problem is where do you spend your time if you have no home? You spend it in public because you’ve got no choice. The world stares at you. And they judge you.
‘If you’re homeless nowadays people often assume that you’re bad or a crook of some kind. You’re not like other ‘normal’ people. “What kind of woman lives on the streets?’ they wonder. That’s because when you see people on the streets on television they are always made to look like dangerous weirdos. I spend a lot of effort trying not to look like I live on the streets so I won’t cop abuse. People hate seeing us around.’ Jessie, aged 27.
‘I’m a normal bloke. But it’s hard to live normal without somewhere to call your own. You have nowhere to store your gear. Nowhere to wash. Nowhere to be private. Nowhere to bring friends. Nowhere to recover when you’re crook. People pick fights with you for no reason. Shopkeepers complain when they see you around. The cops treat you like a dumb animal.
‘When you sleep outside, you never really sleep. You’re always partly awake, listening for noises, footsteps, trouble. Sometimes you get assaulted. I’ve been robbed three times in two years. And I’m a bloody pensioner.
‘It’s tougher out there than it was. I got beaten up by some young blokes who were walking past me one night. They called me a dirty loser and belted me good. I was just sitting in a tram stop minding my own business, trying to sleep. They must have thought I was evil or something.’ Larry, aged 58.
‘When you’re homeless nowadays, you need a plan. The thing is not to attract attention. Never walk around with a blanket – you’ll get into trouble. I stash my bags so I can look as un-homeless as possible. If you look like a bum, people will treat you like one. Look down. Don’t catch anyone’s eye.
‘I stay out of the city now. Too many cops and security people. They wake you up and order you out of the area. I sleep rough in parks in the suburbs. I try not to stay in the same place two nights in a row because you get noticed. I’ve been locked up before just for sleeping down a lane.
‘I like a drink but I never behave badly. If you drink in public you make trouble for yourself. Where else can I drink? I see young guys everywhere sitting at tables on the footpath having a drink in the nice sunshine. They can do that because they’re out the front of a restaurant. If I drink on the footpath in the sun, the cops either take my drink, move me on or book me. Four hours in a cell.’ Luke, aged 37
‘In the city these days you can’t go anywhere without money. If you sit down for a while in an arcade, you’ll be asked to move on. You’ve got to be seen buying stuff. Security is always watching. I fell asleep at Spencer Street station, so they woke me up and threw me out. You’re not allowed to sleep in public.
‘Places where I used to sleep aren’t there anymore. Lanes and allies are closed off. Lot’s of people live in the city today. Most are rich. They don’t want to see people like me around. Even Young and Jackson’s is like Toorak today. I’ve got nowhere to go.
‘When I walk around, I feel like I’m trespassing wherever I go to. I’m like an unwelcome visitor.’ Steven, aged 40.
END
Chris Middendorp works for Hanover Outreach and is a freelance writer.
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