Yesterday saw a picture uploaded to social media that shocked and enraged Philadelphians who branded it “cruel” and “unnecessary.” This photograph showed jagged metal spikes that had recently been placed on a previous bench outside the 8 Penn Center building in central Philly.

These spikes are put there to stop homeless people from sleeping on the bench, or even to stop people using it for skateboarding. Ironically, since 2018 – the Philadelphia city council has pledged over $300 million to ‘improve city spaces’ – yet this act definitely goes against that logic. In fairness to the council, it may well be that these spikes were placed on private property by the 8 Penn Center who were legally in their right to do so. Nonetheless, if nothing else – this shows a physical and symbolic divide between the haves and the have-nots of the city.

Philadelphia residents reacted with disgust to these spikes, with one saying “Sad state of affairs that we do this instead of working towards a real solution. I get that building does this for customers and employees, but it just feels so reactionary and futile. Kicking the can down the road.”

However, not everyone agreed – with one person claiming, “Yeah, but it’s not the responsibility of a random business to fix homelessness. Nor is it possible even if they wanted to.”

Undoubtedly, the homeless crisis in Philadelphia is an issue that needs attending to – having said this, it looks as though spiked benches aren’t the solution and only show the widening gap between the corporate world, the homeless population, and hard working Americans.