This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

Last week the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a ban on sleeping in public spaces.

While the majority in favor of the ruling argued that it was not

intended to target the unhoused, it effectively allows cities and states to

criminalize homelessness even when there are no shelters available.

We thought now might be a good time to re-air our episode from 2017, which covered the Skid Road

District in Los Angeles.

It's about the strategic design decisions undertaken by city

planning officials to develop a distinct neighborhood for the homeless.

It's hard to overstate the vastness of the Skid Row neighborhood in LA. It spans roughly 50 blocks, which is about one-fifth of the entire downtown area of Los Angeles.

In some ways, the streets of Skid Row are a bit like other parts of LA.

That's reporter, Carla Green.

There are corner stores and street vendors selling everything from jewelry to loose cigarettes.

They're old break townhouses filled with low-income housing. There are parks where

grown-ups gather to talk and children gather to play.

But it's also very clear when you've entered Skid Row.

For one thing, there's the smell.

The streets of Skid Row often stink of urine and other excrement, baking under the hot Los Angeles sun.

The gutters are lined with trash.

And the sidewalks are mostly and on some blocks entirely, occupied by people's makeshift homes.

A dizzying array of tarps and tents stretch out for blocks and blocks,

one structure jutting up against the next and the next.

...