Ironically it seems like the most direct harm done by homeless people sleeping on the benches is that those benches aren’t usable by commuters who may need to rest.
I’d see the dangerous and unstable behaviour, the harassment and whatnot faced by the regulat commuters that’s a more direct harm, personally
Maybe my experiences are unusual, but I’ve seen more harassment and general shittiness from other commuters than I ever have from homeless people camping nearby. Not saying it doesn’t happen, but I feel like we’re back to the problem of harassment and violence already being illegal. Going back to the immediate question here, removing the benches doesn’t make harassment or assholery any more difficult or more consequential.
There should be a lot, a lot more commuters than there are homeless. But homeless people unfortunately have very high incidence of mental and substance abuse issues that often manifest in unpredictable and dangerous behaviour. And it’s not made for housing people, so facilities for that aren’t there and removing the homeless from there (or trying to, rather) you can try to minize the issues and make the place better for commuters.
Something being illegal doesn’t stop it from happening. I’d prefer more enforcement over removing benches, but with too limited resources I don’t think the transit system can really do that.
I’d see the dangerous and unstable behaviour, the harassment and whatnot faced by the regulat commuters that’s a more direct harm, personally
Maybe my experiences are unusual, but I’ve seen more harassment and general shittiness from other commuters than I ever have from homeless people camping nearby. Not saying it doesn’t happen, but I feel like we’re back to the problem of harassment and violence already being illegal. Going back to the immediate question here, removing the benches doesn’t make harassment or assholery any more difficult or more consequential.
There should be a lot, a lot more commuters than there are homeless. But homeless people unfortunately have very high incidence of mental and substance abuse issues that often manifest in unpredictable and dangerous behaviour. And it’s not made for housing people, so facilities for that aren’t there and removing the homeless from there (or trying to, rather) you can try to minize the issues and make the place better for commuters.
Something being illegal doesn’t stop it from happening. I’d prefer more enforcement over removing benches, but with too limited resources I don’t think the transit system can really do that.