Homelessness in Beaumont, Texas
With the passing of House Bill 1925, many cities have been spurred to take action against homeless encampments, including Beaumont, Texas. Beaumont has been experiencing a growing homeless population over the years that has been congregating across the city in a variety of places such as the underside of overpasses, within local parks, and generally throughout the city This was addressed in a special meeting by the Beaumont City Council on September 2nd, 2021. The council decided that the primary solution that will be pursued by the city is the funding of local homeless shelters.
These local Beaumont shelter operations are on schedule to be renovated and funded after the decision by the city council in September's special meeting.
While this is a step in the right direction, there may be more effective solutions to the problems at hand. This project seeks to explore solutions that have been enacted by three different cities with the intention to get the homeless population off of public property.
Hostile Architecture (New York, New York)
The images above display many different examples of hostile architecture that is found in cities, ranging from dividers on benches to spikes on an underpass.
Hostile architecture has become an increasingly common sight in cities around the globe. Hostile architecture is a designing method that is used in the creation of public spaces with the intention to prevent specific behaviors or otherwise influence the behavior of the general citizen. This design philosophy has been recently utilized with the intention to dissuade homeless populations from loitering on public property. New York stands as one of the largest advocates for hostile architecture as it continually adds more of this design to the ever-growing city.
While this does pose as an effective solution, especially under overpasses, it does take a lot of time, and effort to fully implement. This is due to the large amounts of possibilities that must be explored and carried out. Therefore, this option should likely be implemented over a long period of time to mitigate some of the costs and to ensure that it is executed thoroughly.
"Mosquito" Technology (Spokane, Washington)
When you think of the word "mosquito" you likely just think of those annoying bugs that appear throughout the summer. However, this word is now being redefined as the name of the leading piece of technology in loitering reduction.
The images above showcase the Mosquito device with a diagram on the left and representative images on the right.
Spokane, Washington has adopted a new technology to combat the prevalence of homeless populations on public property. This new piece of technology, known as the "Mosquito," emits high frequency waves in order to drive off potential loiterers. This sound causes discomfort to nearby people if they remain in the area for long periods of time. These devices were implemented in many public areas around the city and have resulted in a reduction of the presence of homeless citizens in the vicinity of the emitters. However, these devices have led to a heated discussion regarding the unproportionate effect on young populations due to their younger ears being much more sensitive to the frequencies.
The Mosquito device has been shown to be much more disruptive to younger citizens, leading to many debates regarding the ethics of the device.
Despite the controversies, this device performs its job very well. However, each machine costs about $600. This adds up to a huge cost due to the fact that many will be needed to create a large impact on the area.
Homes For Homeless (Houston, Texas)
Houston, Texas opted for a much more direct approach of handling the issue of homelessness... getting them homes. The city along with many partnering organizations were able to cut the city's homeless population in half by directing resources towards permanent and temporary housing for the homeless population. Once the homeless population had access to these resources, support structures became available to them to help them deal with any mental or physical issues. Additionally, the overall stability provided to them by the newly acquired residence tended to provide an overall positive effect on each persons' individual well-being.
The picture above shows a resident of Houston's supportive housing initiative.
Despite the large costs for huge initiatives like this, the close proximity to Houston along with the presence of many local organizations can lead to many supplementary funds. Additionally, Houston's program gained a lot of traction after their initial goal of housing 100 veterans in 100 days. This jump in publicity dramatically increased their donorship dollars. Beaumont could work towards a similar goal in order to rise in popularity.
What Actions Should Be Taken
There are many different avenues that a city can take while attempting to alleviate the burden of homelessness from public property, however, due to budget constraints and the unique needs of each individual city, specific solutions must be chosen. After analyzing all of the options enacted by the three cities, I believe that a mixture of hostile architecture and homes for homeless should be pursued. This is because it will provide a relatively low cost to immediately alleviate the issue in the form of hostile architecture, but a much more effective long-term solution in the form of getting these homeless citizens long-term homes. Additionally, this approach will likely lead to the attraction of outside donors to aid in the efforts similarly to the case in Houston.
Works Cited
“Anti-Teenager Alarms a Form of Assault, Says Minister.” Acoustic Services, Irish Times, 9 May 2018, http://acousticservices.ie/anti-teenager-alarms-a-
form-of-assault-says-minister/.
Bain, Kaitlin. “Renovations Ahead for Salvation Army Homeless Shelter.” Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont Enterprise, 11 Jan. 2021, https://www.
beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/Renovations-ahead-for-Salvation-Army-homeless-15861253.php.
Brent, Kim. “SETX Stand down 2020 AIDS Area Veterans, Homeless.” Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont Enterprise, 26 Sept. 2020, https://www.
beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/SETX-Stand-Down-2020-aids-area-veterans-homeless-15598623.php.
“Buy a Mosquito the Anti-Loitering & Teenager Repellent: Mosquito.” Mosquito, https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/product/mosquito/.
Garnham, Juan Pablo. “Why Homelessness Is Going down in Houston but up in Dallas.” The Texas Tribune, The Texas Tribune, 2 July 2019,
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/02/why-homelessness-going-down-houston-dallas/.
“Mosquito Anti Loitering Device.” Papa Bravo, 3 Jan. 2017, https://papabravo.design/portfolios/mosquito/.
Quinn, Ben. “Anti-Homeless Spikes Are Part of a Wider Phenomenon of 'Hostile Architecture'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 June 2014,
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/13/anti-homeless-spikes-hostile-architecture.
Wilder, Juan. “Artists Is Fed up with 'Anti-Homeless Spikes.'.” Greenville Gazette, 26 Feb. 2016, http://www.greenvillegazette.com/p/artists-is-fed-up-with-
anti-homeless-spikes-so-they-made-them-a-little-more-comfortable-108512/.
form-of-assault-says-minister/.
Bain, Kaitlin. “Renovations Ahead for Salvation Army Homeless Shelter.” Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont Enterprise, 11 Jan. 2021, https://www.
beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/Renovations-ahead-for-Salvation-Army-homeless-15861253.php.
Brent, Kim. “SETX Stand down 2020 AIDS Area Veterans, Homeless.” Beaumont Enterprise, Beaumont Enterprise, 26 Sept. 2020, https://www.
beaumontenterprise.com/insider/article/SETX-Stand-Down-2020-aids-area-veterans-homeless-15598623.php.
“Buy a Mosquito the Anti-Loitering & Teenager Repellent: Mosquito.” Mosquito, https://mosquitoloiteringsolutions.com/product/mosquito/.
Garnham, Juan Pablo. “Why Homelessness Is Going down in Houston but up in Dallas.” The Texas Tribune, The Texas Tribune, 2 July 2019,
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/02/why-homelessness-going-down-houston-dallas/.
“Mosquito Anti Loitering Device.” Papa Bravo, 3 Jan. 2017, https://papabravo.design/portfolios/mosquito/.
Quinn, Ben. “Anti-Homeless Spikes Are Part of a Wider Phenomenon of 'Hostile Architecture'.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 June 2014,
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/jun/13/anti-homeless-spikes-hostile-architecture.
Wilder, Juan. “Artists Is Fed up with 'Anti-Homeless Spikes.'.” Greenville Gazette, 26 Feb. 2016, http://www.greenvillegazette.com/p/artists-is-fed-up-with-
anti-homeless-spikes-so-they-made-them-a-little-more-comfortable-108512/.