>>66900933My interpretation of the presence of the townspeople is that they share the Haibanes' fate: they're dead and their town is the place where they spend their afterlife.
The difference being that the Haibane's presence in the town is merely transitory: to them the town is a kind of purgatory: a place where theire sins are cleared before they can enter "heaven - if you wanna call it that. That explains why they're not allowed to own any item that belongs to the town.
To the townspeople, the town is their definitive residence. That could mean that they're too sin-bound to ever enter heaven. They aren't even reborn with wings because there's no hope for them in the first place.
The fact that all Haibane are minors may have some significance here: maybe only children who have died young haven't committed enough sins yet to deserve a place in "heaven".
A rather bleak and gruesome concept, but I guess it fits the overall atmosphere.
