Homeless Hotspots - Employment or Exploitation?

[maiforpeace]

Homeless Hotspot Program at SXSW Draws Ire

By Ian Paul, PCWorld Mar 13, 2012 7:38 AM

Homeless Hotspot Program at SXSW Draws IreA New York-based marketing firm is drawing the ire of online critics thanks to Homeless Hotspots, a recently ended homeless relief experiment at SXSW in Austin. As its name suggests, a homeless hotspot is a person equipped with a 4G Mi-Fi device selling SXSW attendees Wi-Fi access at a suggested donation rate of $2 per 15 minutes. All proceeds from paid Wi-Fi access go directly to the person selling the Wi-Fi time.

The program consisted of 13 homeless people such as Clarence, a hurricane Katrina survivor, and Stacia, who has been living on the street for nearly 10 years. Each homeless person wore a T-shirt that says, "I'm [First Name], A 4G Hotspot." Underneath that message were instructions on how to get online using an SMS shortcode with the name of the homeless person. The Homeless Hotspots concept was created by marketing firm BBH in collaboration with Front Steps, an Austin homeless relief organization.
Slippery slope

The basic objection to the idea is that Homeless Hotspots turned a poor person into an object of convenience for privileged middle-class people loaded up with smartpones, laptops and iPads looking for Wi-Fi access. You can easily imagine an unsettling scenario where Clarence is selling access to multiple people at once, when a young girl looks up from her laptop and says," Hey, Clarence, can you come a little closer to me, I'm losing my wireless signal, that's perfect, now don't move for a second, OK?"

Some are also objecting to the fact that Homeless Hotspot T-shirts don't say, "I'm Clarence, and I'm selling 4G Wi-Fi," but rather, "I'm Clarence, A 4G Hotspot," a phrase that reduces a human being into nothing more than a functional piece of hardware.
Not so?

Homeless Hotspot Program at SXSW Draws IreBut BBH, the firm behind the idea, disagrees, calling Homeless Hotspots an experiment to modernize the concept of street newspapers, such as Boston's Spare Change News. These papers are sold on street corners of cities across the U.S. covering homeless issues and providing financial support for those who sell them. Unlike newspapers that few are likely to read, however, Homeless Hotspots allows people to make a living selling a service that people may actually need.

The homeless people selling Wi-Fi access don't appear to mind either, according to several interviews with program participants. Homeless Hotspot participant Jonathan told Good Magazine that he didn't find the job demeaning and prefers it to other manual labor jobs available during SXSW. BuzzFeed spoke to Melvin, another Hotspot participant, who said he didn't find it demeaning, but did not yet know whether the experiment was worth it financially because participants in the program have yet to be paid.

It's hard to know what to make of a program like this: Is it a unique idea to help homeless people sell a service that also helps them, or is it something straight out of a dystopian novel? At the very least, it's getting people to talk about the problem of homelessness in America.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

What do the people doing the work say, overall? That would be the deciding factor for me.

[Coito ergo sum]

Are they filling out a W-4, and taking proper workers compensation, unemployment, FICA and other deductions, and issuing a paycheck? And, are the ensured a minimum wage?

Or, are the homeless folks supposedly independent contractors, not subject to employment law, in which case if the homeless person is paid more than $600, they would have to be issued a 1099 form?

[MrJonno]

Selling wifi?, don't most restuarants/cafes/pubs have it for free + local government tends to stick it on lamp posts these days?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Selling wifi?, don't most restuarants/cafes/pubs have it for free + local government tends to stick it on lamp posts these days?

Trains, airport lounges, places like that, still lag in WiFi access here. However, my neighbor has a WiFi system that isn't passworded.

[Robert_S]

Selling wifi?, don't most restuarants/cafes/pubs have it for free + local government tends to stick it on lamp posts these days?

SXSW= South by Southwest. It's a giant outdoor music festival.

[hadespussercats]

It reminds me of that old trope of the bullied sibling having to stand by the television extending the bunny ears for better reception.

[Robert_S]

It reminds me of that old trope of the bullied sibling having to stand by the television extending the bunny ears for better reception.

It probably sucks, but when you're broke and you get offered a job just standing around it probably looks pretty good. And access to SXSW can't be all that bad.

[hadespussercats]

It reminds me of that old trope of the bullied sibling having to stand by the television extending the bunny ears for better reception.

It probably sucks, but when you're broke and you get offered a job just standing around it probably looks pretty good. And access to SXSW can't be all that bad.

Oh, sure, when you're homeless and someone's offering you a way to make money, it's gonna seem good. I'm not sure I'm against it. But it is exploitative.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If people get some self-respect out of this, and an employment history, it's all good.

[Svartalf]

money, some, employment history... possible.
Self respect : doubtful.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

money, some, employment history... possible.
Self respect : doubtful.

Why? They're earning money, that's a booster to the ego when you're on the street, believe me.

[maiforpeace]

Some of them have said they like the job because it gives them contact with people that normally would look right past them.

I do see this as being as being exploitive on the part of many of the people using them so poo on them. On the other hand feeling useful and feeling needed is good for anyone, but especially so for someone who is constantly marginalized as being a useless drain on society, so I have mixed feelings about this too.

Luckily not all of us view the homeless this way, and who knows, maybe this will make the homeless less faceless to those that might otherwise ignore them.

[Warren Dew]

Gawdzilla's posts pretty much say it all on this one.

[Coito ergo sum]

It reminds me of that old trope of the bullied sibling having to stand by the television extending the bunny ears for better reception.

It probably sucks, but when you're broke and you get offered a job just standing around it probably looks pretty good. And access to SXSW can't be all that bad.

Oh, sure, when you're homeless and someone's offering you a way to make money, it's gonna seem good. I'm not sure I'm against it. But it is exploitative.

It's only exploitative if it's unfair. So, wouldn't we need to know what the compensation is?

It may be illegal if they're operating outside of applicable employment laws, or paying them "under the table."