City Moves to Eliminate ‘Hostile Architecture’ Aimed at Preventing Homeless People From Resting

A single park bench with a metal divider running through its middle became the spark for a citywide ban. Morgantown, West Virginia, council members spotted the divider on a bench in a downtown green space and started asking why it was there. Days later, they voted 5-2 to eliminate what housing advocates call “hostile architecture,” design meant to stop people from resting or lying down in public, according to West Virginia Watch.

The National Coalition for the Homeless describes hostile architecture as design choices meant to steer or restrict behavior city leaders find undesirable. In practice, that can mean slanted benches, spiked windowsills, timed sprinklers, and locked seating, all built to make resting somewhere impossible. Morgantown’s resolution narrows the definition further: features whose primary purpose is deterring rest through discomfort or exclusion, not legitimate safety needs.

Passed Tuesday night, the resolution bars the city from installing hostile architecture in any future project, repair, or replacement. It does not force Morgantown to tear out benches already in place. Instead, officials plan to swap out problem pieces gradually as budgets and maintenance schedules allow, according to Deputy Mayor Brian Butcher, one of three council members who sponsored the measure.

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Butcher Traces the Ban to a Bench He Called “So Silly”

Butcher said the idea had been on his mind since he took office, but one bench pushed him to act. A newly installed seat in a city green space included a center divider despite barely fitting one adult. “It’s a pretty small bench, but still has a divider,” Butcher told West Virginia Watch. “I was just like, that is so silly.”

A preliminary inventory turned up roughly 15 hostile park benches owned by the city, another 18 to 20 controlled by the Mountain Line Transit Authority, and three more belonging to Morgantown’s parks board. Butcher said the count focused on benches because they’re the easiest hostile feature to spot. Planters, uneven curbs, and subtler deterrents likely exist too, he acknowledged, though none have been formally logged.

Many of the flagged benches trace back to a 2018 Community Challenge grant from AARP-West Virginia, which funded seating throughout Morgantown’s business district to make downtown more walkable for older residents. That original goal now sits at odds with the deterrent design under scrutiny. Asked for comment on the resolution, an AARP spokesman said the organization had none to offer.

Resident Calls Bench Removal “Hostile” to Seniors and Disabled People

Not everyone at Tuesday’s meeting saw the resolution as uncontroversial. Morgantown resident Paige Reiring told council she’d watched the lack of usable seating downtown become a barrier for herself and disabled friends navigating the city’s steep hills. She said she wanted Morgantown to “become more accessible to people,” rather than keep installing benches few can comfortably use, per WV MetroNews.

A second speaker pushed back hard, arguing the ban itself discriminates. She told council she saw the plan to remove divided benches as exclusionary toward the city’s 55-plus community and people with permanent or temporary disabilities, some of whom rely on center armrests to push themselves upright. Councilwoman Louise “Weezy” Michael echoed the concern from the dais and voted against the resolution.

Councilwoman Jennifer Selin, the other no vote, focused her objection on framing rather than substance. She argued the city should have built a model of ideal, welcoming seating first and promoted that, instead of opening the conversation by labeling existing benches hostile. Selin asked colleagues to hold off on the vote until a more positive framework was ready to present publicly.

Disability Rights Group Backs the Ban as ADA Guidance Shapes Next Steps

Butcher pushed back on claims the resolution harms disabled residents, saying hostile design cuts against people with low vision, larger bodies, and mobility limits just as often as advocates claim it protects them. He pointed to Americans with Disabilities Act guidance, which calls for a single armrest at one end of a bench, not a center divider splitting the seat in two.

Disability Rights West Virginia, a nonprofit legal advocate for disabled residents statewide, issued a statement backing the council’s vote. The group said it was encouraged by Morgantown’s proactive approach to accessibility and pledged continued support for public spaces built to remove barriers instead of creating new ones, according to the resolution’s supporting materials.

Morgantown’s vote stands apart from a wider trend. Several West Virginia cities have moved to ban public sleeping since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson cleared the way for camping bans nationwide. Butcher framed his resolution as the opposite response. “Our public spaces are for everybody,” he said, and everyone in the city deserves to feel welcome using them.