On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public places. The war on the unhoused goes hand in hand with gentrification. More about the Supreme Court decision at the end of our newsletter.


Over the past few years, Unicorn Riot coverage has examined how gentrification affects cities in different parts of the world. We’ve evaluated some of the effects, transformations and consequences that the phenomenon has had on gentrified areas and communities, specifically Athens, London, Philadelphia and Minneapolis.


This newsletter spotlights our three-part Gentrification in Greece series, our four-part Tale of the City series from London, and coverage from the U.S.


Airbnb and the far-right government in Greece have significantly changed the historic Exarcheia district in Athens. Below, see a timeline mapping some of the changes, along with a film where we heard from a professor and activists who spoke about Exarcheia Square being closed for a new metro station.

The Battle Over Exarcheia Square

Lopsided development goals, particularly including tax breaks for the wealthy, and privatized control and decision making over the area’s large parks, have maintained inequities between the working and ruling classes. These inequities have also produced protests and organized opposition. Catch up on six reports from Philly.

Philadelphia police officers, under orders from the mayor’s office, conducted anti-homeless encampment sweeps early on the rainy morning of May 8, 2024. New hardline Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration banned the media and legal observers from monitoring their sweeps of unhoused people along a stretch of Kensington Avenue. Videos and report.

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The Tale of the City: Gentrification in London series looks at three current struggles against gentrification across different boroughs of London — Elephant and Castle, Fight the Tower in Brixton (which was victorious), and Latin Village — with threads of thought and action, presenting experience, education and perspective into explanations around the motives and definitions of gentrification intertwined in the city canvas.

Supreme Court Decision Criminalizes Unhoused

People in Public Spaces

The U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 28 only directly affects the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (eight western states, in addition to Hawaii, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands), however, it will set a precedent for future laws and court cases across the country concerning unhoused people and their rights to exist in public space.


Check out our vast coverage about the U.S.’s unhoused population by clicking here.