NMBS tests hostile architecture at Antwerp Central to deter homeless people

“We understand the concerns of people who sometimes spend the night there, but there are more suitable and safer places for them,” says Britt Monten of the NMBS. “Our security staff are also closely involved in these people’s situation and can assist them in finding a suitable place to stay.”

Two homeless people sitting on a bench elsewhere at the station shrug when they hear about the planned intervention, saying they have other things to worry about. 

There are cafes and shops next to many of the windowsills on Pelikaanstraat. “I always arrive here at night to work, and the homeless people leave me in peace,” one employee at a sandwich shop said. “I’ve never had any trouble with them.”

Luc Dhuyvetter works in a bicycle repair shop nearby and acknowledges the problem. “Just yesterday, a colleague of mine had to ask a homeless person to leave,” he says. “That worked straight away, but sometimes you have to call the police because they become aggressive. Those metal cables might well stop them from sitting or lying down there. But perhaps they will end up getting damaged. In any case, the problem will simply be shifted to other parts of Antwerp.”

The Antwerp Street Syndicate, an organisation that supports people living on the streets, understands that homeless people sleeping on windowsills can be a nuisance to shopkeepers. “But without sufficient alternatives elsewhere in the city, you cannot justify such hostile architecture,” says Niek Everts.

She says the current shelter initiatives in the city are not enough. “The city is pursuing an overly repressive policy and would do better to create spaces where homeless people do feel welcome. Places where, for example, they can lie on a sheltered bench and where they can access drinking water.”

If the pilot project receives a positive evaluation, the NMBS and the city will expand its use.