'Homeless Spikes' Appear Outside London Apartments

The landlords of a luxury apartment building in London have installed metal spikes in a front door alcove, apparently to deter homeless people from sleeping there. The tactic calls to mind the way pigeons are dealt with.

The British Telegraph quoted a man named Andrew Horton, 33, who took photos of the spikes that were passed around Twitter, as saying, “I can’t say for certain but it certainly looked like they were placed there to deter homeless people. … It’s dreadful.”

Another person said on Twitter, “The destitute now considered vermin [sic].”

The Telegraph quoted some who were disturbed by the spikes:

Kathrine Stokes, 39, of Hull, East Yorkshire, photographed studs outside Tesco in Regent Street, London and uploaded the picture on Twitter.

She said: “It’s sad. It demonstrates a meaness and a lack of humanity for people.”

Katharine Sacks-Jones, head of policy and campaigns at homelessness charity Crisis, said: “It is a scandal that anyone should sleep on the streets in 21st century Britain. Yet over the last three years rough sleeping has risen steeply across the country and by a massive 75 per cent in London.

“Behind these numbers are real people struggling with a lack of housing, cuts to benefits and cuts to homelessness services to help them rebuild their lives.