Worlds of Homelessness

The Berlin-based street journal Arts of the Working Class and the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles present the AOWC Special Edition Nr. 5 / Extrablatt WORLDS OF HOMELESSNESS. The special edition includes the work of the contributors to the Worlds of Homelessness project from around the world.

The precarious working conditions faced by cultural professionals inspired the artist Paul Sochaki and the curator Maria Ines Plaza Lazo to launch their “Arts of the Working Class” journal in 2018. Because the journal is distributed by a network of homeless people and students in various countries, the selected topics are intended to appeal to the widest possible readership: from those living on the street to international cultural professionals.

During a drive through the city of Los Angeles, urban planner Ananya Roy and philosopher Rainer Forst talk about the social contradictions in the US-American society. The corona pandemic has not only increased the number of homeless people in the city, but also the risk of forced evictions. These mainly affect people from the Black and Hispanic communities. Where is social justice?

The Goethe-Institut in Los Angeles formed a partnership with the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) for the “Worlds of Homelessness” initiative and attended the premiere of its latest play: “I Fly! or.... How to Keep the Devil down in the Hole” at the REDCAT Theatre.

​Skid Row is reputed to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles. 2,000 homeless people live in tents here. This poses quite a challenge for urban planners and sociologists.

In many cities around the globe, the number of people without consistent access to shelter has increased to represent a significant percentage of the overall population. What does it mean to live in the city without a place you can call your own?

Some German initiatives are producing mini-houses for homeless people: What benefits will they bring and where will be limitations?

He keeps his spray paint cans in an old cooler. His acrylic paints and chalk are stashed in a cracked milk crate. They are piled under a blue tarp beside two large dog kennels...

These days, it seems that absolutely everyone and everything is being measured, statistically recorded and entered into spreadsheets. There’s just one group of people that no-one appears interested in: the homeless. Nobody knows how many of them there are, how many new people find themselves living on the streets, how many manage to escape from their homeless plight. Gradually, however, interest in this group is growing, and we are beginning to learn more about them and their situation.

Housing precarity is not a new phenomenon. In a series of essays titled “The Housing Question,” which were published as a pamphlet in 1872, Friedrich Engels noted that structures of housing shortage and geographies of urban displacement were a necessary accompaniment of capitalism.

Living in Chinatown in Los Angeles is very much in demand not only because of being close to the city center but also its lively vibe. But just like so many other trending neighborhoods around the world, Chinatown is changing rapidly. The local community is confronted with the forces of gentrification.

Watch the inspiring debates and presentations given at the inauguration of the Charette, presented by SCI-Arc on January 11th - 14th, 2019 in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles. 
 

A teaching experiment from Johannesburg bringing together formal and informal housing processes. Africa is home to ten of the fastest growing cities in the world and it is estimated that 75% of urbanization will be informal. The InformalStudio was created with this in mind and to investigate how the seemingly opposed realities of formal and informal could be brought into a more productive relationship.
 

In all German cities, it takes money to live anywhere close to downtown, quite a lot of money in fact. Those who cannot afford the rising rents in cities are pushed out to the periphery. We asked an expert how urban planning could address this widening gap between rich and poor.

The escalation of Berlin’s housing crisis has become exponential, with skyrocketing rents and a growing shortage of flats fast reaching breaking point. Luke felt the heat first-hand after unexpectedly finding himself in need of a new home.
 

Germany is booming. Rents are rising and prices for residential space are increasing rapidly in dynamic urban centres such as Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich. But there is an alternative that guarantees both low rents and life estate: joining a housing cooperative.

Germany is an affluent country, and yet there are more and more young people without permanent residence or living on the street. Many are stranded in Berlin.

This documentary explains what the phrase “skid row” really means.

There are as many homeless people in the streets of Montreal as there are stories. A report on the situation of the weakest inhabitants of Canada's eastern metropolis.

Finland’s policies to tackle homelessness, especially its multi-pronged Housing First programme, are undeniably a huge success. But some the latest figures give grounds for concern.

Housing in some big German cities is so expensive nowadays that even people with steady jobs sometimes end up homeless. Sonia Nigris in Munich is a case in point.   

Van Bo Le-Mentzel is an unconventional thinker. The architect became known for his simple and inexpensive self-assembly instructions for Hartz4 wooden furniture. Then he extended the idea of democratic design to dwellings, developing living accommodations on bicycle trailers and tiny houses on wheels.

Tiny houses in Eugene, Oregon, provide the formerly homeless with a sense of ownership and community.

Settlements that are not planned and organize themselves could be seen as models for German cities.