Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter has just announced enacted a ban on the feeding of homeless people around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway area. This includes Love Park, where outreach groups commonly offer free food to large numbers of the indigent. Nutter states that the feedings are both unsanitary and undignified, adding that “providing to those who are hungry must not be about opening the car trunk, handing out a bunch of sandwiches, and then driving off into the dark and rainy night.”
Project Home’s leading homeless advocate, Sister Mary Scullion, supports the measure, stating that the mayor is “between a rock and a hard place” concerning the issue of outdoor feeding. Scullion adds, “I really want to thank the mayor for this courageous… this is not an easy position. But I do think it’s a great opportunity.”
Though, Brian Jenkins of Chosen 300 Ministries, a homeless outreach group that does both indoor and outdoor feedings opposes the ban, and states “the fact that city of Philadelphia is saying now that the homeless don’t have the right to eat on the Ben Franklin Parkway or eat around Center City is a clear violation of civil rights. It says that people that have… can eat in a certain place. But people that have not, can’t.”
Nutter’s office will try to work with advocate groups to promote more indoor feedings, and for now, food can be offered on the north apron of City Hall. The ban on park feedings takes place in 30 days, and groups in violation face 2 warnings, and then a $150 fine. Also, family gatherings in the park aren’t affected by the ban.
Charity measures regarding the homeless have recently been in the news regarding the Homeless Hotspots controversy at the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX. Marketing agency BBH labs was sending homeless people out with wifi devices, in attempts to get people to give them tips for free internet service. Some have said that this was an affront to the dignity of the homeless.
You might have heard about a recent “experiment” that took place at this year’s SXSW festival, as it sparked quite the controversy earlier this week.
A marketing company called BBH Labs launched what they called a “charitable innovation experiment,” that on one hand gave “jobs” to about a dozen homeless in the area while providing a necessary service for festival-goers – internet access. On the other hand, it was a cruel, dehumanizing experiment that exploited the city’s homeless population.
BBH gave thirteen voluntary homeless participants a MiFi hotspot device and a shirt that said “I am ______, a 4G Hotspot. Through a small donation (a recommended amount of $2), festival-goers could have the password for the Wi-Fi and use it for a designated period of time. Critics of the program called it dehumanizing, disgusting, immoral, exploitative, and representative of the class disconnect in our culture.
The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart is also a critic of the “experiment.”
“Rather than train homeless people to become computer workers, we’re training them to become computer equipment,” he says. One of the biggest problems he has is with those “I’m a 4G Hotspot” shirts, and he also tried to figure out what some of the passwords could be. Enjoy:
This is clearly a controversial topic. BBH Labs’ Saneel Radia (who is behind the idea) has compared the Homeless Hotspots to just a modern day iteration of the Homeless selling newspapers for companies: “We’d really like to see iterations of the program in which this media channel of hotspots is owned by the homeless organizations and used as a platform for them to create content. We are doing this because we believe in the model of street newspapers.”
Marketing agency BBH Labs was been inspired to turn local homeless people into hotspots while attending the South by South West conference in Austin, Texas. Each homeless representative will be given a sign and a 4G connection to alert people of their location while they walk around and make connections for people in exchange for donations.
This idea is sheer madness, the general public does not even want to share public facilities with the homeless (think about how many homeless people are kicked out of libraries) and they certainly aren’t going to initiate an interaction with a vagrant but according to The Inquirer BBH thinks that it will work: “They’re carrying MiFi devices. Introduce yourself, then log on to their 4G network via your phone or tablet for a quick high-quality connection. You pay what you want (ideally via the PayPal link on the site so we can track finances), and whatever you give goes directly to the person that just sold you access.”
Some people have reacted to the idea by saying that BBH is exploiting the homeless and not paying them enough — that they are corrupt because the homeless representatives will be independent contractors meaning that they might not even make minimum wage.
The homeless 4G vendor in the following YouTube thinks that this will be a wonderful experience and opportunity for him to get his life back on track:
Commenters either vilified BBH on the blog for their Homeless Hotspot idea while others thought that it helped economically challenged people rise above:
“Calling it “charitable” is a pretty crappy way to get around federal minimum wage laws. Luck for you the US Attorney in Texas is a Bush appointee.”
“The critics have it all wrong. The homeless are not being exploited. They get paid, get a chance to meet and talk to people for a relatively minor chore of carrying a wireless hot spot. It’s safer than being a day laborer, pleasanter than standing on the street waving a sign directing drivers to a real-estate development, and offers more real contact than selling newspaper. Those who criticize the radiation exposure should ask whether a hot spot manned by paid staff, which is common at many conferences, is not just as risky. BBH labs deserves praise for an innovative idea to offer homeless a chance to make money and mingle with people.”
“Plan A – homeless receive money for doing a job they agreed to. Plan B – homeless get nothing. And you think Plan B is more moral than Plan A??? lol. What a joke! This confirms my suspicions that the homeless are people the rest of you are ‘voting off the island’… and your wolf pack morality then views doing anything for them to be wrong. BBH if you read this, please don’t abandon this project because you’ve been besieged by evil – you are in the right here, and the homeless will be better off as a result of your efforts.”
“I definitely see the merit in the arguments of those defending the program and of those who are outraged by it. I think it’s important, however, to consider that (from what I gather in the article) no one is being forced to do this. If an individual is fully aware of the risks/implications of participating in this program, shouldn’t they have the option to take part? it could, of course, be argued that the often extremely desperate situation that much of the homeless population face could take away this notion of agency. The moral integrity of this program, in my opinion, relies on the unlikely assumption that no deception or wrongful coercion of a participant would take place. My biggest issue with this program is actually the safety concerns associated with being able to track the hotspots, and with that, the individual. For a group that is already at huge risk for violence and other horrific assaults, this just doesn’t seem wise…”
Safety might be the biggest issue that BBH needs to consider. The homeless contractors are under very little supervision. While there are many homeless that are clean cut hard working people capable of interacting with the community, there are also many homeless individuals suffering from mental and physical diseases that could lead to public health and safety risks for the people who elect to make exchanges with this specific group of representatives. We also need to protect these representatives from becoming targets of violent crimes.
Marketing agency BBH Labs, an affiliate of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, is presently defending itself at SXSW, after unveiling “Homeless Hotspots,” a promotional concept that involves giving homeless people a 4G connection and a sign.
BBH Labs discussed their Homeless Hotspots idea in a blog post – “This year in Austin, as you wonder between locations murmuring to your coworker about how your connection sucks and you can’t download/stream/tweet/instagram/check-in, you’ll notice strategically positioned individuals wearing ‘Homeless Hotspot’ t-shirts.”
The business model is basically this – “they (the homeless) are carrying MiFi devices. Introduce yourself, then log on to their 4G network via your phone or tablet for a quick high-quality connection. You pay what you want (ideally via the PayPal link on the site so we can track finances), and whatever you give goes directly to the person that just sold you access.” So, a user just finds a homeless person with a sign, logs into their network, and then can add a tip – or not. Once the connection is made, BBH hopes that the homeless would walk around the area to attempt to establish more connections and solicit more tips. Still, their business model has been met with shock.
A comment on BBH’s site, indicative of the general response to the concept is this – “It is sickening that people will only consider giving to the homeless if they can receive a petty luxury in return. Homeless people don’t owe you anything.”
BBH Labs, in an what sounds like a statement constructed by an Invisible Children PR rep, had this to say on the matter of strapping Wifi to homeless people (BBH calls them ‘collaborators’) to help bring awareness to themselves –
“Obviously, there’s an insane amount of chatter about this, which although certainly villianizes us, in many ways is very good for the homeless people we’re trying to help: homelessness is actually a subject being discussed at SXSW and these people are no longer invisible. We are not selling anything. There is no brand involved. There is no commercial benefit whatsoever. Each of the Hotspot Managers keeps all of the money they earn. The more they sell their own access, the more they as individuals make.”
One can ever track the ‘collaborators’ as they broadcast at SXSW, by checking the Homeless Hotspots site:
