THE LIMITS OF ARCHITECTURE – HOMELESS PEOPLE AND PUBLIC SPACE

Where does architecture begin and end? On what topics should architects be invited and in what social discussions should they be actively involved?  These questions led Architects Without Borders to organize a series of public discussions called The Boundaries of Architecture. Two guests who are close to the topic under discussion are invited to one table - one architect or urban planner and an expert from another profession. Together we are looking for the boundaries of architecture and its intersections with other social disciplines.

Architect and urban planner Jiří Klokočka and social curator Pavel Pěnkava discussed the topic of homeless people and public space.

"The problem of homeless people is the inability to live in relationships: to maintain them and, most importantly,
to develop them. Relationships are the alpha and omega of a good life." 

- PhDr. Pavel Pěnkava -

Homelessness

Who is a homeless person (or a person without shelter, a person with the experience of living on the streets, a person in housing need, an urban vagrant, or also a homeless person, a "houmles", a "houmlesak", a "houless", a "contyšák"? Unfortunately, there is no single definition on which there is social consensus. Pavel Pěnkava, a social probation officer and head of the social prevention department in Prague 1, believes that the problem of these people is their inability to live in relationships: to maintain them and, most importantly, to develop them. Relationships are the alpha and omega of a good life.

The Concept for Preventing and Solving Homelessness in the Czech Republic by 2020 states that homelessness is synonymous with extreme social exclusion, of which poverty is both a cause and a consequence.

Ilja Hradecký, founder of the Hope organisation, advocates naming the phenomenon homelessness. In his opinion, homelessness is more like a trade or a permanent position.

The European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion in the Czech Republic (ETHOS) is based on the principle that the concept of home can be understood in three areas, the absence of which can lead to homelessness. This leads to four forms of exclusion from housing: homelessness, homelessness, insecure housing, substandard housing.

A large number of people who live on the streets have experience of institutional education. This can be either growing up in an orphanage or being in prison. Experts on homelessness, Ilja Hradecký and Libor Prudký, agree that up to two-thirds of people on the streets have been through an orphanage. The link between homelessness and the structure of the housing stock is also interesting. During the rapid privatisation of the housing stock in the 1990s, homelessness increased dramatically. These were people who had been living in council housing that had been privatised, for example, during their time in prison.

Majority society and the homeless people

The attitude of mainstream society towards homeless people has evolved considerably since the 1990s, when homelessness began to be openly discussed. Post-revolutionary tolerance combined with pity has gradually turned into disinterest, which goes hand in hand with the lack of a systemic solution to the problem.

The current attitudes of the majority society towards homeless people can be seen, for example, in the difficulty of establishing a new social service (a specific building where it should be provided) in the territory of the capital; no one wants it in their neighbourhood.

Therefore, for example, in 2007, the Hermes Boat, located on the Vltava River, was established in Prague as one of the large dormitories, which is the only place in the capital that does not belong to the administration of any municipal district.

Yet it is the attitude of society towards its weaker members that reflects its maturity. Although the public accepts that it is necessary to spend resources to help the homeless, Pavel Pěnkava adds from his own experience that there is a resonating view that "Help them, but don't let it cost too much." As a result, the emphasis is mostly on meeting basic needs (food, sleep, etc.) and supporting them, rather than investing in prevention - i.e. preventing the problem. Yet preventive measures are the basis for success.

Attitude abroad

One solution to homelessness is access to affordable housing. The experience with the housing market from abroad was presented in the debate by architect and urban planner Jiří Klokočka, who spent most of his professional life in Belgium, where he worked as the chief architect of the urban planning studio of the city of Kortrijk. One of the studio's activities was designing public space.

The situation on the housing market in Belgium is different. There has been a social housing system in place since the Second World War, so it's quite commonplace. In terms of numbers, 6% of the housing stock is social housing and this is managed by housing associations. Naturally, there is a great deal of interest in this type of housing. The system establishes the criteria by which the 'housing queue' is formed: income ceiling, number of children and disability. Priority is also given to senior citizens who have sold a larger house or flat and to people whose property has been expropriated in the public interest. The government aims to build 50,000 more such flats by 2025, bringing the share of social housing to 9% of the housing market.

The state is aware of the need to oblige private developers to cooperate. It imposes on them that a quarter of the flats in a new housing project must be social. And if a developer intends to create purely luxury housing? Then they must invest elsewhere, and build mandatory social housing there.

Belgian society is aware of the importance of the public interest over the private interest, as can be seen, among other things, in the 'STOP' principle applied to street design. Pedestrians have priority over everyone, then cyclists, then public transport and very last comes individual traffic - cars.

Future social workers

Social work is one of the so-called helping professions, which focus on helping others. The scope of a social worker's work is large, working with alcoholics, delinquents, the homeless and other populations. In his work, he should be able to distinguish between the person he sees before him and his behavior so as not to personalize the problems.

Unfortunately, the social prestige of this profession is low, and there is some wonderment as to why people want to do this work. Through no fault of its own, the profession has been given a negative label that it cannot work with. It appears that social workers have the lowest self-esteem in multidisciplinary teams. Yet it is they who must be the coaches at the round table, who can guide the work of the professionals involved (for example, psychologists, lawyers or special educators) towards a successful goal: to resolve the urgent situation of a person in need.

"Homelessness is a phenomenon produced by society itself, so society should be able to solve it."

- Alexander Hagner -

Conclusion

Often we are more afraid of the concern than the problem itself. And this is typical of society's attitude to homelessness. Turning a blind eye to this social problem, repressing it, or outright evicting certain groups from certain parts of the public space will not solve homelessness. It will only be displaced, postponed or magnified.

Architect Alexander Hagner, the author of the pioneering Viennese project VinziRast-mittendrin, where (formerly) homeless people and students live together, says: "Homelessness is a phenomenon that is produced by society itself, so society should be able to solve it."

An important means of addressing this is through preventive measures, which are targeted at three levels: firstly, working with the individual who has got into trouble. It is necessary to determine whether the current system of so-called permeable housing is the solution for the individual (where the individual reaches independent housing through several stages of social services - day centres, dormitories, shelters) or whether it would be better to introduce the principle of housing first, which has been proven abroad and in pilot projects in this country. This principle, called Housing First, is based on the belief that it is first necessary to solve the difficult situation of homelessness and then it is possible to solve the individual's personal problems. People in trouble are first provided with stable and standard housing in rental apartments, and then a social worker helps them to resolve their difficult living situations. Although this principle cannot help everyone, pilot projects have shown that it ends homelessness for at least eight out of ten people, and paradoxically costs society less money.

Furthermore, prevention is aimed at addressing the problems of people who are at risk of falling to the bottom of society (typically people with debt, single mothers, the elderly or people leaving institutional care - for example young people leaving children's homes). Finally, prevention at the level of society as a whole is an important part of the solution. This includes the need to inform and educate people about the problem of homelessness, to break down prejudices - for example, "it's their own fault" and to strengthen civil society).

The discussion took place in January 2018 at the Scout Institute on Old Town Square. A recording of the evening can be viewed here.
The series of public discussions and articles Borders of Architecture is supported by a grant from Nadace české architektury.