The role of business improvement districts in criminalizing homelessness reflects a tension between private interests and public space, Rob Waters writes.
With more Americans becoming homeless every year, the question of how cities should respond to the crisis has grown increasingly urgent. In Next City, Rob Waters unpacks the debate between homeless advocates and business improvement districts over policing and criminalization—a conflict that he says is truly about "the degree of influence that private interests should exercise over the management of public space."
"Today's conflicts between homeless activists and BIDs have their roots in 'slum clearance' efforts of the 1950s and 1960s that razed huge chunks of city neighborhoods and displaced hundreds of thousands of residents, mostly low-income people of color," Waters writes.
BIDs operate in cities around the country, and are designed to allow property owners to collectively pay into area improvements beyond those provided by local government. But on top of street cleaning and marketing campaigns, BIDs have gained a reputation among critics as the "foot soldiers of gentrification" for deploying "private armies" that funnel homeless residents into the legal system. Following instances of harassment, violence, and seizure of property, Waters reports, a study from UC Berkeley suggested that BIDs regularly "exclude homeless people from public spaces in their districts through policy advocacy and policing practices."
Waters delves further into BID activities and speaks to BID representatives about their attempts to attract visitors and raise property values. He also notes a different approach taken by one Community Benefit District in San Francisco: providing tenant-landlord mediation to prevent eviction (a key driver of homelessness) and installing public toilets and needle disposal to improve street cleanliness and public health.
FULL STORY: No Place Left to Go: Business Districts Keep Homeless Populations on the Move
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.