• cryptiod137@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Yeah, that was the only issue, definitely.

    Europe having a rate of homelessness of ~1/835 as opposed to the US ~1/507 is a quite a bit better, but I’m honestly suprised it’s that high, and leads me again to doubt supposed value. With all the social services available in the EU, that really isn’t the difference I was hoping for.

    The US has so many areas that are dirt poor and being pumped with drugs (both legal and illegal) as well as a super predatory renter and lending market. I’m just not sure what could drive those numbers in Europe.

    • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Not everywhere is equal in Europe, while homelessness is lower across the board because Europe overall has better social services available, Finland is far ahead because of it’s implementation of Housing First.

      You also need to look at the definition of homelessness. Finland counts first-stage homelessness, known as couch surfing (which leads to car-camping and eventually the late-stage homelessness of living on the streets) in that calculation. The US ignores 1st and 2nd stage and only calculates homelessness with the late-stage. If the US uses the same calculation as Finland or other European countries, our homelessness rate would be even higher.

      Drug addiction is a symptom of late-stage homelessness, not a cause. The cause is almost always the private housing market pricing people out of affording even rent. In the US, housing is first and foremost an investment, not a necessity.