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

Homelessness

Homelessness describes the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are unable or unwilling to acquire and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence." The legal definition of "homeless" varies from country...

, sometimes mentally ill

Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

, and often have a bohemian lifestyle

Bohemianism

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...

. Certain neighborhoods, especially those in neighborhoods near universities, such as Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue

Telegraph Avenue is a street that begins, at its southernmost point, in the midst of the historic downtown district of Oakland, California, USA, and ends, at its northernmost point, at the southern edge of the University of California campus in Berkeley, California...

 in Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

, The Ave

The Ave

University Way NE, colloquially The Ave , is the commercial heart of the University District and the off-campus extension of the University of Washington in Seattle. Once "a department store eight blocks long," The Ave has gradually turned into what now resembles an eight-block-long global food...

 in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

, or the Pearl Street Mall

Pearl Street Mall

The Pearl Street Mall is a four block pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado...

 in Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

 often host street people. They may also frequent bohemian commercial districts such as Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue

Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local street system, it lies 15 blocks north of the zero...

 in Denver. Individual street people may be familiar figures to the entire community.

Well-known street people

Examples of well-known street people are José María López Lledín

José María López Lledín

José María López Lledín known as El caballero de Paris was a well known street person in Havana, Cuba in the decade of the 50s.-First years:...

 who lived a public life on the streets of Havana

Havana

Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...

 during the 1950's, Mr. Butch

Mr. Butch

Harold Madison, Jr., , more widely known as Mr. Butch, and sometimes called the "King of Kenmore Square" and "The Mayor of Allston" was a homeless man living on the streets of Boston...

 of Boston, Leslie Cochran

Leslie Cochran

Leslie Cochran is an American peace activist, cross-dresser, street person and local celebrity in Austin, Texas. He is a critic of police treatment of the homeless.-Early life:...

 of Austin, Juan

Juan (street protester)

Juan, also known as Pedro, is a street protester operating in Seattle, Washington, United States. He is known for yelling the same statements at the same location for over twenty years.-Identity and popularity:...

 of Seattle, or Louis Thomas Hardin

Moondog

Moondog, born Louis Thomas Hardin , was a blind American composer, musician, poet and inventor of several musical instruments. Moving to New York as a young man, Moondog made a deliberate decision to make his home on the streets there, where he spent approximately twenty of the thirty years he...

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

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Character of street people

Contemporary street people in the United States include hippies, some of whom may be beggars who "spange" (ask for spare-change, hence the portmanteau "spange") on the streets; bag ladies who often have all their possessions in a shopping cart which accompanies them. They also may include street performers, and the chronically mentally ill.

The term street people is used somewhat loosely and may be used simply to refer to eccentric people who live in Bohemian neighborhoods. However, the defining characteristic is time spent in the street, wandering the streets for a substantial portion of their day or night. This street presence combined with their distinctive disheveled appearance, result in some individuals becoming familiar to residents of the neighborhood they frequent.

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 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.

External links and further reading

• The Rabble of Downtown Toronto by cartoonist Jason Kieffer, "notable street people in Toronto, himself included".