TACOMA — The city of Tacoma is investing tens of thousands of dollars into a strategy to deter homeless people from setting up in certain public areas, drawing ire from community advocates.
“Hostile architecture” is a phrase used to describe infrastructure designed to be uncomfortable, inconvenient or obstructive to certain uses deemed undesirable.
Examples include park benches that are purposely difficult or uncomfortable to sleep on, bright lights in dark subway alcoves intended to discourage campers from sleeping there and in Tacoma’s case — large boulders on roadsides intended to prevent tents and vehicles.
City spokesperson Maria Lee told The News Tribune that between October 2022 and April 2024, the city spent about $163,000 to place more than 1,000 rocks and boulders across the city.
Lee told The News Tribune the city has installed boulders in more than 20 locations in recent years:
- 96th Street South and South Hosmer Street
- Multiple intersections on Yakima Avenue
- South 5th Street and J Street
- 7th Street and Tacoma Avenue South
- South 21st Street and I Street
- South 25th Street and G Street
- South Cushman Avenue and 11th Street
- South 35th Street and South Ash Street
- South Wright Avenue and South Chandler Street
- 10th Street and L Street
- 35th Street and South Proctor Street
- 40th Street and South Cedar Street
- Puyallup/Portland interchange
- Center Street and Steele Street
- 96th Street and Hosmer Street
- Multiple intersections of South Altheimer Street
“The City generally responds to requests from businesses and residents to do site reclamation work and they’re handled on a first come, first served basis unless there is an emergent need,” Lee told The News Tribune when asked how the city prioritizes and decides what locations need boulders.
Recently, Tacoma has installed more boulders. Lee confirmed that boulders were placed near the intersection of South 11th Street and South M Street to “prevent illicit activity in the right of way.”
The City of Tacoma adopted an ordinance in 2022 prohibiting camping and the storage of personal belongings in a 10-block radius around temporary shelters in Tacoma.
Advocates and volunteers working to end of homelessness have previously decried the city’s anti-camping policy, saying it displaces people instead of addressing the root causes of homelessness.
Rob Huff is a spokesperson for the Tacoma/Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness. Huff has been a vocal opponent of both the city’s camping-ban ordinance and its use of boulders to obstruct camping.
“The coalition is opposed to the use of hostile architecture,” Huff told The News Tribune on April 18. “Especially the tens of thousands of dollars spent by governments to install rocks in places across Tacoma and Pierce County when those dollars could be better spent creating solutions to homelessness.”
Members of the Tacoma/Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness work together to help organize a coordinated response to extreme hot and cold weather events to make sure those living unhoused have resources and necessities like water, hand warmers and basic hygiene supplies.
Huff suggested the money used to install boulders could be better used to support efforts to help the homeless instead of keeping them away from certain areas.
“$100,000 would provide a significant increase in the ability to respond to extreme weather events,” Huff told The News Tribune. “It would also provide enough money that it could help prevent a number of households from becoming homeless in the first place in Tacoma.”
