Street people are people who live a public life on the streets of a city. Street people are frequently

homeless Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

, sometimes

mentally ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

, and often have a transient lifestyle. The delineation of street people is primarily determined by residential arrangement and their location in the urban setting.

Well-known street people

Examples of well-known street people are

José María López Lledín José María López Lledín was an elegant vagabond known as El Caballero de París ("The Gentleman From Paris") who wandered the streets of Havana and was a well-known cult figure. Biography José María, the fourth of eleven children, was bor ...

who lived a public life on the streets of

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Mr. Butch of Boston,

Leslie Cochran Albert Leslie Cochran (June 24, 1951March 8, 2012) was an American homeless man, peace activist, cross-dresser, urban outdoorsman, and outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless. Cochran was known in Austin as Leslie. Cochran was cons ...

of Austin, Juan of Seattle, or

Louis Thomas Hardin Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

("Moondog") who was a street musician, inventor, and later homeless person in the 1940s through to 1970s in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Character of street people

Contemporary street people in the United States include

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

, some of whom may be

beggar Begging (also known in North America as panhandling) is the practice of imploring others to grant a favor, often a gift of money, with little or no expectation of reciprocation. A person doing such is called a beggar or panhandler. Beggars m ...

s who often ask for spare change on the streets; bag ladies who often have all their possessions in a shopping cart which accompanies them. They also may include

street performers Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pr ...

, and people with chronic

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. The term street people is used somewhat loosely and may be used simply to refer to eccentric people who live in Bohemian neighborhoods.

Code of the Road

Street people are said to have an unwritten code or set of rules that govern interaction between street people. Referred to as the "Code of the Road" it emerged from the Hobo camps of the depression era to encompass urban street people. The "Code of the Road" was detailed in ''Xploited'' magazine.

As a social problem

Poor economic and social conditions can result in accumulations of the homeless, often called street people, in certain neighborhoods. This may result in revival of

vagrancy Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, waste picker, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western ...

laws, or similar laws which may prohibit lying or sitting on the street. Results and attitudes vary, especially as liberal communities attempt to grapple with large numbers of the homeless."Santa Cruz Reduces Street Crime, but Its Model Is Not Cheap"
article by Scott James in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' September 2, 2010, accessed September 7, 2010

Notes

External links and further reading

*
The Rabble of Downtown Toronto
' by cartoonist Jason Kieffer, "notable street people in Toronto, himself included". {{Homelessness Subcultures