American Asks: Is it Better to be Homeless in Europe? | Why?
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- When I talk with my friends in Europe, they always express amazement at the US Homeless Crisis. And to be honest, it is a problem that I didn't fully understand either. Why is it that I can walk around Paris, London, or Rome and only see a handful of homeless individuals, but shanty towns line many of America's most wealthy cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco? In this video, I take a look at Comparing Homelessness in Europe and US.
🔍 What You'll Learn:Comparative Analysis: Understand how homelessness varies between European countries and the U.S., including statistics and trends.Societal Impact: Explore the social and economic effects of homelessness in different cultural contexts.Policy Approaches: Examine the various strategies employed by European nations and the U.S. to address homelessness.
📊 Key Statistics:Homelessness rates in major European cities vs. American cities.Government initiatives and their effectiveness in different regions.
🔎 Video Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
02:26 Homelessness in Europe Statistics versus US Homeless Population
07:39 Finland's Housing First Solution to Homelessness
11:13 European Homelessness Policies
16:27 Why America Fails Homeless Persons
21:52 The Final Question
🤝 Join the Conversation: Share your thoughts in the comments about how we can collaboratively tackle homelessness. What solutions do you think are most effective?
🔗 Resources and Further Reading: For those interested in deepening their understanding, check out the links in the description for detailed studies, articles, and reports.
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Episode No. 131
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📌 Tags: #HomelessnessCrisis #EuropeVsUS #SocialIssues #GlobalAwareness #HomelessnessSolutionsHomeless problem, Homeless problem in City, Biggest Homelessness Problems, Most Homeless Cities, Homeless crisis, homeless crisis 2023, California’s homeless crisis, Homeless problem, homelessness, homeless people, homeless, homeless camp, homeless people suffering, homeless crisis on the streets, live on streets, living in tents, homeless in america, homeless people in america, homeless woman, homeless california, homeless crisis in america, homelessness in america, High Homeless Populations - Zábava
Here in France, 25 years ago, my teacher told to our class that he has been homeless for 6 years. He explained us that he lost his wife from cancer, then fall into alcoholism, then lost his job, then lost the watch of his children, then lost his home. He stayed only one night in a shelter and he swore he would never go again into a shelter because he got robbed there. It took 6 long years to finally heal from the lost of his wife. And after a big struggle he finally came back to a normal life, and became a teacher of communication for young adults. He stays as my most memorable teacher during my whole studies. I also remember that he was saying "There is an easy way to end the homeless: assign a permanent room to each homeless person in a shelter with a padlock on the door. The person will be able to leave their belongings without worry and will therefore be able to actively get out of their situation. Currently the shelters are only open at night and there are 4 people in each room, that is to say 3 potential thieves in the same room as you."
In fucking france, even I was homeless. Why, I was divorced! Then, without violence or other problems, the jugde who is not even intrested in human rights tell you normaly within one month you have to leave the famaly appartment... Try to find a new one in paris within this time! Each idiot, who do not pay the rent, who is violent against the landlord, even if they live in the same house etc. will stay in the appartment for one year and mor. But if you are a father in fucking france, you are just not be a real human...
😢 so sorry to hear that.
Strictly speaking, with 4 in the room, that means there are 4 potential thieves.
Can you imagine an American spending 6 years on the street and then walking into a decent job? I cannot.
@@barvdw Think positively. It's 4 potential people who you can steal from as the 5th guy.
The real indication of a civilised society is to see how it treats its most vulnerable.
And its prisoners. Both is not so good in the US.
@@UlliStein I'd say "not so good" is a very serious understatement.
and how people valeu life and security of living above money and consuming! If you live like their is no tomorrow and spend, live on credit and consume more then you make, life will teach you a lesson!
@@UlliStein Prisoners is such a vulnerable group.
According to who?
I was homeless in Sweden for about 6 months, I was lucky in that it was during the warmer half of the year l, because I didn't even get access to temporary housing. And even more lucky that I had an ex that *literally gave me his apartment* because he was scared for my well-being, and he knew that he'd be fine finding a new place.
While I am grateful for his incredibly kind act, it shouldn't have been his responsibility.
I had come out of a several months long hospital stay for my mental health, I had lost my job, and I had nowhere to go. But this is where Sweden's pretty screwed up system come in play. You see, right to housing is a constitutional right in Sweden, however, the responsibility for this is on the region where you have your registered address, which is according to law supposed to be where you sleep. *but* if you are homeless, chances are that you don't really have one place where you sleep, so no region becomes ultimately responsible to help, resulting in a bureaucratic hell loop to nowhere.
Again, I was extremely lucky, and once I had housing I quickly got on my feet again, but basic human rights should not rely on the fickle kindness of individuals, but be the responsibility of a society as a whole, any thing less is inhumane and a disgrace for a well developed country such as Sweden. The fact of what I went through, even though it is many years ago now, makes my blood boil. Few get to be as lucky as I was, and luck should not factor in.
Your ex-boyfriend must be a really decent person.
Please express him my admiration (from some random guy from Portugal)
Good luck for you.
here in the Netherlands that lack of having a home (or better a mailing adres) has been resolved a little as in if you become homeless the municipality you had your last adres in will open a mailbox in the municipality building. its not perfect here. but that small bit does help. a few bigger municipalities are even piloting in giving the known homeless a prepaid mobile phone. as with the phone they can be called, check there email, and make a few calls them selves.
Most things they could use free public wifi.
@@sirBrouwer Having a postal address and a bank account is way more important than people realize. And with all the anti-money laundering laws is near impossible for a homeless person to get a bank account. Also for ex-cons, since they usually don't have their last tax declaration, which is a must have for opening an account in most banks.
@Goodluck-uh3hv not really, I currently live in the US and the only real thing they have in common is that both are capitalist liberal democracies in the west, having money makes things easier, but this is true everywhere.
I would not compare the systemic issues between the two any further than that, and again, that comparison could be made with literally any country in the west but it's not particularly useful.
@@jal051 thats why here in the Netherlands that for the government relative easily part is covered.
Tax forms are not really needed as those are done differently. If you are in prison its easy. There is no new income. So you probably will be fine. If you get out for the law you are clear. You have done your time.
Girl, you outdo yourself each time- such a pleasure to watch
Thank you!
Seriously, how do you do all this research in a week!? You're really putting that PhD to work by bringing us all great content every week! A tip of the hat to you!!!!
Absolutely! I'm so impressed with the amount of research and visual components in your videos. Excellent work! ❤
Before I even watch most of the video I'll want to predict the reason is individualism.
Japan: Everyone is responsible for society. Do not bother society!
US: Freedom is everyone is responsible for themselves. Do not bother me!
-> less to none social politics
Europeans: Freedom is to be safe in a healthy society so you can pursue your individualism.
-> social policies
it all so a question of how do you define freedom. A american President i believ jackson once said"Freedom is the choice of beeing enslaved or starving to death" that is a intressting look at the world. How can you be free whenn you dont know where your next peace of bread comes from. Pratioral Kapitalisme dosent work Komunissem dosent work and what most americans "US" dont get is that the what they call social statr nanny state is that what the all since a for when the running in to church each sunday. beeing a christian a Jew a Moslem or being a Human is not a sticker you put on your shirt when it fits you its something we all shoud carrie a 24/7 365
beautiful sounding, poorly reflective of reality. I am european, social policies are very nice in theory, but suffer from over-romanticism in practice. Also, individualism is vital, but many people don't understand how important it is to extend that to individuals you disagree with
one thing and thriveing to make fantasy is what it means to be human. if you only strive do to whats possibel we all whoud still hunt with stones. @@AeneasGemini
Our country goes a long way to enforce the (im)morality of capitalism. It may be cheaper (not to mention more humane) and more effective to take a housing first approach, but capitalism deems landing on the streets a moral failing (even when you have no control over how much you pay in rent or how much your employer pays you) therefore you are neither deserve a shred of dignity nor society's consideration and you must be punished. This is particularly bad in the puritan fascist US and why you don't see conservatives demanding a housing first policy even though it is cheaper. At least the UK conservatives have some logic and will go by the numbers and even recognise the threat of climate. The US for the most part is more concerned with ideology and enforcing their extremely fucked up morals to ever do anything so logical and why, I feel, it is the worst country in the world. They are the most extreme in any respect and as much as I hate conservatism, and least I can appreciate conservatives in other countries for responding to data and having some logic and not being as fucked up as even our democrats (Biden doesn't believe in universal healthcare and is basically bought out by property developers).
Ashton again failed to address why California, with super-majorities of Socialist Democrats chooses to spite its own taxpayers and permit mentally ill vagrants living and deficating on the streets. California could implement a Finland policy tomorrow... But they won't. WHY? Ashton's entire premise is useless because she overlooked this most basic question.
I live in a mostly affluent area a small midwestern city that proclaims itself ultra Christian, friendly, and neighborly. People who are homeless aren't just by the exits of interstate highways anymore. They're now on every single street corner of my city, in rich and poor areas, begging for money at every stop light in town. And I don't mean one per intersection, I mean they're on each corner, so at least 2, often 4 per intersection. The homeless live under almost every single bridge and hide in every wooded area of city parks. But they're not the only ones begging. It's very common now to see people with homes and jobs begging for money on street corners to pay medical bills. It didn't used to be like this but, in our far- right state government's effort to cut costs and lower taxes for the wealthy, they've chosen to drastically cut social services to the most needy. Sadly, the Christian majority where I live, like those kinds of policies and vote for them because it makes them feel more certain they're going to heaven because only 'good' people are worthy of god's blessings, as proven by their big homes and shiny new SUVs. The gospel of prosperity teaches them that they're right, and that the needy are sinners. It's a sick form of "Christianity"
While there are false Christians, there are also true Christians who really follow the practical principles of the gospel and it shows in how they act and lifestyle. I was a new Christian a few years back and had the same sentiment as you, now that I have been slowly understanding the bible and really knowing deeply how true believers really are, the impression that all of them do not walk the walk is slowly fading. You have not met a lot of us Christians, and I am praying that someday you too will acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as that One who only intends to give us the true meaning of righteousness. I am deeply praying for everyone.
That is disgusting... where I live the church isnt perfect but they at least try... Last year they helped fund the renovations on a retirement home and a couple of years ago they made it their mission to home and integrate in our comunity a family of people who ran away from the war in Kurdistan, they also receive clothes donations and sell them at a simbolic price (it is indeed very cheap). However I always believe they could do more with the funds, why only one family!? why not more?! But again at least they try( I live in a really small town, only about 5 000 people), what you just described sounds to me like a bunch of self-righteous people who never faced unemployment, being abandoned or mental health struggles and like to feel superior and pretend that the fact that they were born lucky has anything to do with merit and them deserving it instead of pure chance... It as been proven that wealthy people are much more likely to consider that their wealth was earned rather than acknowledge factors like generational wealth, luck, having good contacts (aka daddys friends) and access to mental health professionals. My aunt knew a doctor who worked in a high-end rehab facility and she was always saying people have no idea how many rich kids go there and how much everyone is paid to not disclose it... Homeless people aint the only ones who struggle with stuff like substance abuse... the difference is that they dont have rich family members who will treat them until they can get back on their feet
Christians shouldn't judge each other by politics which is what you're doing. Every city in the U.S has a high homelessness problem, left wing run cities certainly have their problem with it. Its a spiritual battle. Don't allow politics to make you divisive and judgemental of your fellow Christians.
@@evangelesong6319 Fellow christians? What makes you think I'm christian? I have no desire to join in their hypocrisy. If one call themselves christian, they should act like one and follow the teachings of christ, but I've rarely witnessed that in any of my so-called christian neighbors. Christianity is VERY political where I live because the conservative leadership in my state wants it that way. "Left wing' leaders don't "claim every inch of the state for jesus" which my governor says publicly. I've never heard a "left wing" leader say anything like that- EVER. If christians really did follow Jesus, they'd care more for those in need instead of worshiping the Almighty Dollar.
I'm Finnish, and yes, you don't see homeless people anywhere. There are some (alcoholics, drug users, people from Romania who beg), but they are offered night shelters. Also note that in Finland, during winters it's so cold that if your makeshift shelter doesn't have any heat, you will probably die. There are NO homelessnes within people with children, elderly or veterans, people with mental ilnesses, unemployed, or people who just got out of prison. We are not going to let people die, get severly ill or be left outside the society for just being unable to pay for housing or being in a situation where they are unable to take care of themselves.
In Germany, there are homeless and if you work in the city, you figure out pretty early who is homeless and who just belongs to some sort of beggar mafia (because you see the real homeless pretty early, when they come from their night hide-outs, while the beggar mafia only bothers to turn up as soon as the streets are full of shoppers). Thing is, they don't HAVE to stay on the street, there are shelters, as well as programs to pay rent for those who are out of work. That there are still people left on the street is related to a number of issues, ranging from drug use to mental issues to some people (i.e punks) who go for an alternative live style, and there are programs to help them, too. Since the weather is more mild, there is less an incentive to actually take that kind of help, though.
One thing about American homelessness that, I have learned, versus European homelessness is...., what is considered homeless. In the U.S., you are considered homeless ONLY if you do not have a roof over your head. Konstantine Anthony, mayor of Burbank CA, stated that he, according to California law, he was not homeless because he was couch surfing. In too many states, that is how homelessness is counted. You are homeless ONLY if you are living on the streets. When I lived in Colorado I knew a woman who lived in her car and was not considered homeless by the city. Fromwhat I have learned about the homelesness problem of the U.S. versus the European problem is that most eupropean countries count homelessness as someone who does not count where they live as their own. As pointed out in this video, Finland has the lowest homeless population, but they still count their who live in subsidized housing as being homeless. The U.S. has a huge problem that perpetuates the homeless problem. Our worship of the almighty dollar and all that it infures. If you lok at it as an economic problem, you'll find that American homelessness could actually be ended by taxing the 1% an additional 1%. SOOO many problems could be solved by taxing the top 1% upwards of 2%. Homelessnes is just one of the problems that could be solved.
It's so frustrating that we know that the most effective _and most cost-effective_ way to deal with homelessness is to give people homes, but so many countries (like mine, the UK) prefer to spend _more_ money on _worse_ outcomes out of nothing more than spite and performative nastiness, because of the number of voters who want to have people to look down on, and who go apoplectic at the thought that somebody, somewhere, might be given something for free.
Your total lack of empathy to your fellow brits is sad, but unsurprising. People have those *nasty* attitudes, because they're struggling to cope mentally and financially (unlike you I'm sure). And when they see their resources going to a group they see as outside their interests, yes it hurts. It might be easy for someone in a relatively well off position, to judge the people who are having to make ends meet, but morality is the ultimate luxury good my friend, be grateful you can afford so much of it
@@AeneasGemini The point, which has completely passed you by, is that it is *cheaper* to give homeless people somewhere to live than to deal with the consequences of having a large number of people who are homeless and destitute.
Very well put!
I cannot understand how anyone could be envious of a homeless person getting a potential future. This should be the wish of every decent person.
@@stevieinselby While I understand his point about morality being a luxury good in a way they are affording their own morality because as you've stated it is *cheaper* to house people. We are all paying for their morals.
@@AeneasGeminimaybe you should read twice before commenting. You completely misunderstood what you are responding too.
OMG Ashton! You are a treasure! Thank you for addressing this topic. Homelessness in the U.S. is part of the reason we are here (France). It just seemed so unethical for the richest country in the world to ignore its homeless problem. I didn't want to be in a country where, God forbid, something went wrong with a family member, there would be so little help.
TBH, the last time I was in Paris (a couple of years ago) it looked pretty bad too.
Why did the numbers of immigrants lately increase so this can hardly be coped by a friendly rural society? asking from Germany.
Thank you, for this video! I am from Germany and Two month ago, I was for a road trip in California. Starting in San Francisco I was shocked about the amount of homeless people. I had visited San Francisco 4 times before. 11 years before the last time. Now the amount of homeless was increased on a very high level. I asked myself, where did this come from. This helps a little bit.
Still remember my first trip to San Francisco. How can the home (California) of so embarrassing rich companies be so social broken?
I live in California, and yes there is some truth to that. California should not attract homeless and poor illegals by being a sanctuary state. There are American citizens sleeping on the streets, but California gives medical and other benefits to millions of people who are here illegally. We have more low skill poor illegals than the total population of most of those European countries we are compared to. Its sick!@@Tracchofyre
Ashton again failed to address why California, with super-majorities of Socialist Democrats chooses to spite its own taxpayers and permit mentally ill vagrants living and deficating on the streets. California could implement a Finland policy tomorrow... But they won't. WHY? Ashton's entire premise is useless because she overlooked this most basic question.
From The Atlantic, July 2023:
The overwhelming majority of homeless people surveyed were locals, not migrants from far away: 90 percent lost their last housing in California, and 75 percent lost it in the same county where they were experiencing homelessness. Of the 10 percent who came from elsewhere, 30 percent were born in California.
@@gracedagostino5231 lets be honest. California is one of the biggest consumers of low skill laborers. But homelessness is not a low skill laborer problem. There are plenty of nurses and such who work every day, who do not have a place to live in California. It does come down to the cost of housing. Rich people want hospitals near them, but they don't care where the employees sleep. same is true for the hospitality industry. retail sales. fast food, etc. you can't just have housing for rich people. you need housing for the people who provide essential services. Housing for say 200k people is not out of reach for a state with the level of income normal for California.
One thing missing was in the video was the weather. In northern Europe: Poland, Baltic States, Scandinavia - it is close to impossible to be homeless 'in the California sense' - as living in a tent is not really survivable here in winter. Even with the visibly warming climate there are still many consecutive weeks of weather so cold that it is impossible to biologically survive without being inside a solid shelter and without being in a group helping each other. This is similar reason why there are no homeless cats here (Central/Norther Europe) compared to some warm places eg. Israel - a domesticated animal without someone taking care of it would freeze to death in winter.
Another thing is the vicious cycle of homelessness and addictions. In Poland significant fraction of homeless people were alcoholic addicts (and both problems were addressed in parallel) - I am not an expert on the US case, but it looks like there is a signifficant correlation between homelessness and opioid epidemic.
Ironically it's also impossible to be homeless in New York. And yet people literally choose to be homeless. Same for Massachusetts. And you are right that it's the drug epidemic along with mental illness.
California isn't only t-shirt and shorts weather. It has extrwmwly different weather in the same state. My family and I went to San Francisco and Napa Valley during the summer and you had to wear a light jacket and jeans in early morning and after sunset in both areas because it was cold.. California is also the only state that has the ability to surf, ski, and be in the desert within an hour. The major city for skiing it gets to 4 C during the day and -8 C during the night. This isn't temperatures for homeless people either.
@@jessicaely2521 I've been skiing in California myself - but Lake Tahoe is not really where tent villages of homeless people exist - it is LA. The question is not whether you need to put a sweter on top of your t-shirt late in the evening, it is whether you can spend two winter months in a tent and survive. In LA it is possible, In Warsaw, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm - it is not.
Berlin has definitely grown small tent "villages" or similar. The problem has been massively raising in the last few years. It's also visible in Hamburg.
I really hope we look to adopting the Finnish model in this regard. We need to help. Plus, we need to make sure housing prices go down, the increases are unsustainable.
The answer can only be to restrict the movement of so called refugees to rural areas. The cities cant take them anymore.
@@Steuben1978 Right, historically racism and xenophobia have worked out great for all countries, especially and foremost Germany.
@ Has nothing to do with xenophobia. Ressources and space are not unlimited. Berlin had 3.65 million people in 2019. Now its 3.87 million. Thats simply to many people in such a short time.
@@Steuben1978 most of the homeless aren't refugees, the only issue Germany actually has with refugees is that we don't let them work, what is insane when you consider that Germany is functionally completely employed and there are jobs opening everywhere, McDonald's doesn't advertise their food, they advertise their jobs
@@quantuman100 They are homeless when they are in overcrowded government shelters like in Berlin Tegel. They might not be counted as homeless, but they are. Giving them work permits will not solve the problem. Just look how many syrian refugees are still recieving Bürgergeld.
A few points :
- I know, we are always overlooked (and not even on most statistical Europe maps) - but It is not Finnland only .. but also Iceland that does active housing of the homeless.
- now, you might wonder "why". And all your reasons are very valid and correct ... but you might have left out that ... being truly homeless (as in rough sleeper/sleeping in the OPEN) - will turn your from homeless to dead in a night here (subtracting you from the homeless statistics .. adding you to the suicide/accidental death statistics) - i mean .. Finnland as well as Iceland are inhospitable for humans without a home ... for a long part of the year anyway
- People KNOW about many things like treating homelessness ( or, because you are American ... gun violence, education or healthcare) - we KNOW that free education is an investment with AMAZING pay off. But we also know that there is a huge resentment about even forgiving student loans, not to mention state sponsored education. We also KNOW that forbidding guns to civilians who have NO business owning them leads to a much, much safer environment, significantly lower gun related deaths and also peripheral effects like less police violence - but tell an American to give up their gun-rights and he will likely laugh at you. Also health care .. we KNOW that it is beneficial for ALL to do universal health care .. yet, many, many Americans will scoff at the idea (in a very capitalist, egoist way) claiming that they wont pay for others health.
So - just because something "makes sense" - does not mean that people prefer the senseless and often cruel way .. full well knowing that it is worse AND malicious.
Just a thought why you may be overlooked most of the time:
You have a very small population - isn’t it so small that you have to make sure, that you’re not too closely related when you date someone?
I think most people only know Iceland as idyllic country with rather cold temperatures, beautiful landscapes and very few people.
In Germany you have to prove you are safer with a gun, than without a gun. And that says it all! ;)
@@jennyh4025Yep, there are registers in Iceland to see whether you are related when or before they start having sex and then dating..
@@erwindewit4073 thanks, I wasn‘t 100% sure about that.
I think you didn't say the loud part for many countries: "This is what happens if you fall to the bottom"
Homelessness is the modern equivalent of a head on a spike. Some countries think that suffering is righteous -- it's a lesson to others. It's also a reason to work harder -- that could be you!
Others simply think it's morally wrong and/or a waste.
Sometimes - like that French teacher - you fall to the bottom because society failed it's part, There's a widely-held belief that most Americans are only two or three instances of "bad luck" from homelessness. Being rich adds to the number, being lower on the socioeconomic scale subtracts from it. The US, with its lack of social concern (the "safety net") lets people fall to the bottom more easily than almost all other developed countries.
The cure for homelessness is always - give people homes.
And all research points to the latter being the actual answer, while the former is a steaming pile of things this is to polite a channel to talk about.
Thank you. This has been one of the best presentations on homelessness I have seen. I live in a small (tourist) town in the USA, but spent most of my life in cities (USA). There are lots of homeless here too, which surprised me when I first arrived. I was homeless frequently in my youth, have been a homeless advocate, and currently live in subsidized housing with my kids (who have/had special needs which made me have to be a full time mom to provide for their needs). I have spoken to persons from all backgrounds who have fallen on hard times. One thing we all agree on is when you have the safety of permanent housing and access to food, medical care, and other services, you can focus on improving your life so you don't need these services, instead of just focusing on surviving.
As a vet who is currently benefiting from the services you talk about, I agree it's frustrating. No one held a gun to my head to join, I am no special then any other American. WE ALL deserve the same services for being an American citizen. The government and anyone who thinks differently should be ashamed of themselves and ashamed to call themselves an American
you dont deserve anything. you provide for yourself. Wise Up.
@@geraldbennett7035 Cruel
@@geraldbennett7035 If you don't deserve anything, then why are you requesting the government to protect you from thieves?
@@GB-ez6ge Rather childlish.
I've certainly done my share of trying to make the US a better place, a place where a human being receives better support than organizations. I've run my race. I'm tired. And now I'm hoping to relocate to the European Union within the next year. I tried my best but was rebuffed at every turn. Now it's time to rest and heal.
And for what it's worth, I am a disabled veteran who has been homeless for going on nine years. I have graduate-level education (multiple, different fields) and have tons of commensurate work experience. Perplexingly, my LACK of substance use and LACK of criminal history exclude me from most programs. These are criteria for entry, and once those issues are dealt with, the person might be presented with stable-ish housing solutions. Being substance-free means I can't even get into most housing programs. Advanced education exacerbates it. Go figure.
Come to Germany! We need skilled (as well as unskilled!) people here. As an American, you can just hop into a plane and stay visa-free for 90 days. Find a job and everything else (residence permit, language etc.) can be sorted out as you go. There are no restrictions regarding immigration for disabled individuals, they are treated like everyone else: A job in Germany is the only requirement (if you aren't rich or have another stable source of income, that is). Residence permits are renewed yearly or every two years (I'm not sure) as long as you have a job (not necessarily the same, don't worry, you won't become a slave to one boss!), no questions asked. And the government is in the process to allow dual citizenship generally, so there's no need to give up the citizenship of origin. Hell, they even consider to make English our second official language!
in europe you do not get automatically welfare without "giving back", you will be placed in strict and regulated programs to give you "occupation" , 8 hours a day, and if you do not show up, you get kicked out of the welfare payments for your apartment and living expens, like grocery. especially in germany, there is not a paradise, where you automatically get anything really for free but you must follow each day of your life certain rules and expectations, working in minimum payment jobs to get welfare money! people are not aware of that, that getting welfare money each month comes with expectations and sanctions! of course there is a welfare system, but the goal is to give people a job in the end and if you do not find yourself a good paying job, you will end up in a minimum pay job, 8 hours a day for disabled people! the goal is that everybody must work and show up to such programs!
if you are disabled, you go to special workplaces. germans really want people get out 8 hours a day, especially the ones who get welfare regularly and get out and eventually out of the welfare system. the welfare system is not a nice place to stay, the bureaucracy is crazy and you will have regular apointments with the social system institutions, evaluated every six month or shorter and if you miss the regular appointments, you get sanctioned and kicked out of the program. self disciplin is important and working on yourself is expected by all, daily. its not a system where one gets regular payment and stay at home watching tv. do not have wrong expectations, just to "rest and heal" in europe, there is not such thing. the real estate and renting market is strained, the waiting time to get an affordable apartment is many years by now, bc european governernments followed the unhinged capitalistic lead to leave the housing market to capitalistic companies. if you go to spain, italy, greece, germany, france, you must speak their language very well, not just a little, or you will loose everything. of course you can do some smalltalk with people, especially with the younger generations, in english, but to actually live in european countries, speaking the language very well, is a must. i live in germany btw.
@@hape3862 I remember hearing that the current government is moving toward allowing dual citizenship. Germany is one of three countries I've been getting serious about.
@@GlenHunt You know that you can stay forever only with a residence permit, don't you? After a few years of legal residence, the annual permit is converted into a permanent residence permit and visits to the immigration office are a thing of the past. (Dual) citizenship is nice, but apart from the right to vote, you won't notice any difference.
Interesting that the veterans' program Ashton mentioned is not widely available. I am sorry you've been treated so poorly. Good luck with your move, it will not be easy, but it will be worth it (I did it 5 years ago).
I think the difference between Europe and the US is that in Europe we don't turn a blind eye to problems. Maybe some solutions don't work as desired, so we try another one. Or we look beyond our borders to learn from other, more successful approaches. The only "ideology" that guides us is - no, not socialism - humanism.
We in the US have an obsession with being "self-made". To the point where if you have problems, it's your own damn fault and not because of societal problems that we collectively let get worse over time. It's said that Americans are more positive than Europeans. But it's kind of easy to be that way when we turn that blind eye on things we should be fixing...
@@machtmann2881self made and patriotism are words used by American politicians to prevent them from having to actually do something under the disguise of caring about the nation. I'm surprised how many Americans fall for that transparent trick.
You can't eat a flag or live under it. So I really don't understand why Americans think that hanging a flag in their homes and shops actually makes things better.
Europe finds solutions. America finds excuses.
I think a very important thing is also what people think when they talk about "homelessness". Many, myself included, see it as "not having a home to sleep". Basically people who sleep on the streets. If that home is their own or not is relevant. If you give people a home and the government pays for it, it is still payed shelter. What we see is the amount if people living on the streets. Those people are homeless. People living in a shelter are not homeless in the opinion of many. Finland has upped their game on what those shelters should be and when to give them and I hope all countries would do that.
Homeless also includes people couchsurfing.
There is another aspect of society, which might explain the housing crisis as well. I once spoke to a person working in a mayor hall in one of the towns that constitue Grenoble agglomeration. She told me something very surprising. The number of inhabitants in her town has remained pretty stable over the last 20 years, but the number of houses and flats have been multiplied by 2. The reason is that a lot of people lives alone now and many are divorced or separated, who still need an extra-room for their children, when these children are moved from one household to another. Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging the reasons why people decide to live alone, but it explains in large part why there is a lack of housing when housing building has been planed in most places on a societal organisation that has changed a lot in the last 20 years. The housing unit of a family of four or five doesn't exist that much anymore.
Thanks for your report on homelessness: it is insightful and well investigated (as usual for all your previous reports).
I’m involved with a charity (SVP) that is attached to my church in the UK and can confirm that despite the social care available from central and local government, people are finding access to a home difficult.
If you have a state that has to protect the people, the state has also to protect the homeless people.
And may be, many go to Calicornia because of the warmer climate, what makes it easier in the Winter.
Surveys show that 90% of the homeless in California last had housing in California. 70% are homeless in the county they last had housing.
I live in a city in Canada (Winnipeg, Manitoba) where we have one of the coldest winters in the country. January and February frequently hit -30 C. Or even colder. Imagine being homeless here - living in a tent (if you’re lucky) on the riverbank. It happens. Last year a lady was found dead in a bus shelter - that is simply a small glass 😮box, without heating! Our homeless situation isn’t as bad as say Toronto or Vancouver, but they have warmer climates. Also, unfortunately, a high percentage of homeless here are Indigenous People, so there is also a racial element to it. I love my country and my city/province, but it absolutely breaks my heart to see people digging through garbage cans looking for food. We do have social programs and housing (temporary and permanent), but not nearly enough.
Thank you, Ashton! Again you nailed it. Housing and access to food are principle human rights. Unfortunately, here in Germany the government made a lot of mistakes over the past three to four decades. Even in the 70th a the state invested in public or social housing to ensure access to affordable appartments especially in the bigger cities. By no reason, this stopped in the 80th and, to make things even worse, they sold the majority of these facilities to private equity investors, in the neo-liberal era of the late 90th, early Twothousands.
E.g. Frankfurt, where I live, had a demand of more than 40k affordable appartments even before Ukraine-crisis. It's not, that nothing had been build over the past 20 years, but this was all in the higher value/luxury segment with prices up to 20 kEUR/m2. There was a plan of the actual administration to build or subsidise up to 400k new appartments, but this target will be missed by far, due to increasing cost of building and increasing interest rates. Hence, I don't see a solution on a mid-term for this increasing Problem.
Exactly. There's a lot of documentations about pensioners in Germany who are so short of money, even though they worked all of their life, that they can't find affordable housing and have to search for free food. The more the number of people who don't know how to get through the month financially or can't find housing grows, the more people will be jealous of all the immigrants, many of whom get shelter and food and a lot of help. I am totally sure that most people in Germany would be much more welcoming to refugees if they would not have to worry about their own housing or if they will have something to eat at the end of the month, so this has quite some impact on politics also.
Exactly, how do you think we feel in California! There are thousands of American citizens living on the streets, but California is a sanctuary state for millions of poor low skill illegal immigrants. They are provided with benefits, protections from being deported and free medical. @@EvaCornelia
Ah... Always someone bringing up immigration...
Here in California, San Francisco: homeless encampments spread alongside some streets, needles and 'other stuff' on the ground, my company abandoned annual Oracle World event and moved to Las Vegas.
In the Silicon Valley proper where I live entire parking lots are filled by campers, where desperate people live. Santa Cruz at the least constructed entire acres full of "living mini apartments" and managed to remove some 2 miles of tents with homeless alongside highway 17 and 1, where we drive in to the town to dine on the Ocean Side or Pier, and enjoy the beaches. So this is my sinister summary of how it looks, where worlds fortunes will be made.
Amazing job on this topic, Ashton! Like you, I am also from the U.S. and living in Germany. Yes, there are homeless people around but I am still madder at the U.S. for its situation because it clearly has the money and resources to fix its issues (as exemplified by doing the Finnish model on its veterans), it just chooses not to. It's not even a case of having to choose between funding the military and helping the homeless, it can clearly do both but chooses only one.
It's very hard to get it through to Americans' heads that to reduce homelessness, you need to have more housing. But there's an inherent problem in this: to have more affordable housing, you have to accept that home values can't skyrocket. You see this in comparing CA to MS. CA has some of the most valuable real estate in the country but the most homelessness because people can't afford to live there. Conversely, MS is low value and home values didn't skyrocket so people don't get kicked out of housing as much. It actually has very little to do with political beliefs (despite what they might say) and all to do with housing costs and where industrialization happened the fastest. For every X% increase in home prices, there's a Y% increase in homelessness. CA isn't building enough and it's its own damn fault for choosing home valuation over shelter.
I remember my parents went to the USA over 30 years ago. They were shocked at the number of homeless people they came across living on the streets.
Here in Switzerland we don’t have homeless. Because we give them homes and food.
Both my parents grew up homeless and my mom moved out at 14 and my dad at 16. My mom dropped out of high school and my dad worked his way through high school raising his younger brother once he got him from my granpa who was living in rail cars with him. They did the best they could for their kids after they had us, but we did grow up in poverty. It's a very hard cycle to end when you start so extremly poor. If my parents were able to grow up in homes, I wonder how different their start as adults would have been. Great video!
You have very quickly become one of my favourite CZcamsrs and I'm always looking forward to your next video. Your quality is outstanding. Every time.
Thank you Ashton for raising awareness on homelessness. As an individual you do so much by creating these videos , asking the questions, showcasing comparisons, raising awareness, making people think ‘what could I do to make a difference’, how can we change the situation.
Let’s face it, anyones circumstances could change suddenly through no fault of their own . We only have to turn on the news to see so many people thrown into unimaginable and desperate situations.
Thank you 🙏 as always.
My first and only visit of the US was in Honolulu in 2019. We had a cheap 4 person apartment, two small rooms, one of which faced a busy street and didn't have a closeable window, just some kind of blinds, so it was as if the cars went through your bed, and the other room had a huge bed next to a tiny table and some kitchen utensils. Anyway, each night there were people sleeping on the sidewalk just in front of our apartment. I was shocked. Two ladies seemed to live in the stairwell of our apartment house. It was awkward, as I didn't want to humiliate them by offering goods, so I was just extra friendly and gave them kind words. I had no idea that in Europe, homeless people have way more access to shelter than in the US. Thank you Ashton for explaining.
You have to remember what's cheap to you isn't cheap to everyone. You have to look at cost of food, diapers, formula, furniture, etc. EVERYTHING is high in Hawaii because almost everything needs to be shipped. I have some Native Hawaiian friends when I lived in Tennessee. They were homeless in Hawaii even though both of them had jobs. In Tennessee they have a beautiful 3 bedroom home with 2 bathrooms. They have the exact same jobs and are paid less in Tennessee. The difference for them is food I cheap, homes are cheap, furniture is cheap, life in general is cheap when compared to Hawaii.
hallo Ashton, wie immer - toll gemacht ! und Wichtig ! icvh weiß gar nicht wie öde mein Sonntag wäre ohne Deine Arbeit, morgens was zu gucken und tagsüber was zu Denken. B.t.w. ich vermisse ein bisschen die black forest family! ich hoffe sehr Deinen Männern geht`s gut, Liebe Grüße an alle 3 !
It's not just about US vs Europe; it's major coastal US cities vs (Red) mid-western and southern states. If you're homeless in the US you know very well that you have more rights and chance of services in California or Washington state or DC than in Red states which drives many to migrate to coastal cities. This suits right wing demagogues, who can point to homelessness as a 'Blue state' problem. ... Portland, San Francisco, Seattle...
This is very true. A friend of mine in local government in a small Red town in Pennsylvania is trying to get local services for homeless people and running up against a huge wall of indifference and hopes that the homeless folks will just move somewhere else.
@@berlinorama Tell your friend to sell it as a VETERAN PREFERENCE service. (we help all, but Veterans move to the front of the line) Let the town wave the flag and talk about how they are "taking care of our vets!" (that works a treat)
@lours6993, That isn't how it happens -- the red states ACTIVELY SHIP their problems to CA/WA. They were bussing homeless LONG before they started bussing asylum seekers.
Its is a Blue state problem. You pay for junkies bums and thats what you get. Wise up.
Not true. So called red, or Republican areas have seen giant increases in homelessness. Crime, addictions and tent cities have skyrocketed in Indianapolis, a Republican bastion. I was in that city in 2003 and the downtown was awash in street people asking for money. And it’s gotten much worse there in the last 21 years. Indianapolis had the 3rd highest rate of handgun crimes of any U.S. city in a recent report. I’ve visited small cities in red state Kentucky where the parks have had to be shut down because of drug addicted vagrants living in them.
Put honor and trust into people by making sure they're basic needs are addressed has a huge beneficial return. This applies to any aspect of society and reflects how we see ourselves and others. That's my opinion and observation.
We clearly went in the wrong direction for many years now in the netherlands i hope we soon will get to a point where homes can be attained by all people here. My gut feeling is that many people have seen their 'home' as a way to generate income and make money instead of a place to live. People joined the 'game' for many years and prices went up and up to a level that now excludes many. I feel happy to own my own home and its fully paid off in one of the main cities in the country (utrecht) and i know i how lucky i am esp. in last few years the cost of just living somewhere, staying warm and eating is becoming more of a fight and stressful state. I would hope the pressure from gov. and 'we the people' will be strong enough to get back to the idea that this is a human right. We are smart people and know how to design stuff to be able to stay dry and have many people per km2 to give the next generations some hope. In a way the whole mess of the last few years might have been a eye opener....
Surely Geert Wilders will implement your socialist ideas …
Good luck for that with Geert....
Seeing homes as an asset instead of consumption is a disaster because people always try to game it. The Dutch at least have the excuse of having less land but that doesn't apply to America because it's such a huge land. It should not have a housing problem with that much land but it's more important to gain home value than it is to house humans to too many people out there...
Vanuit de grondwet 22/2: Bevordering van voldoende woongelegenheid is voorwerp van zorg der overheid. Google translation: promoting sufficient housing is a matter of government concern (excerpts from the Constitution of The Netherlands, chapter 22, item 2).
@@Thyme2sea"Het heeft mijn aandacht." Was getekend: Mark Rutte. (I'm aware of it. Mark Rutte).
The production quality and dept of research of your videos is very good
Well done! This is what many in the US don't understand- factors outside of one's control CAN cause a homelessness crisis. And yes, it takes prioritizing society's resources the right way in order to help individuals go from being unemployed and homeless to being sheltered and gainfully employed. America does not prioritize its resources the right way. Reality is very different from the very prevalent narrative in the US that goes like: "They are homeless because they're addicted to drugs and because they're bums. They just need to snap out of it, get and keep a job and then they can immediately find housing." It is a lot more complicated than that.
A lot of the homeless in the U.S. tend to be funneled to those areas as well. Many other cities are hostile towards homeless.
Ashton, thank you for your great work! Your videos are better than most professional documentaries, impressive! Happy Sunday everyone!⛸
Aston, what an incredible well research and presented topic. Someone please soon give you a reward or price, so much value in your work and videos. You outdid yourself on this one.
24 years ago I moved from Germany to the Silicon Valley. Homeless was always visible here in the background, but in the last years and particularly past covid it exploded. It is everywhere here now. May it be in SF, or next to Mercedes headquarter in Sunnyvale or surrounding cities like Santa Cruz you can’t miss it and true challenge for the cities and communities.
There is also a shadow society growing of people living in their RVs, campers, etc as they cannot afford living anymore here in normal rental homes, but want to keep their jobs. I fully agree there is clearly a close correlation between affordable homes and homelessness and it got bad for many people.
I really appreciate your balanced analysis of all the topics in your videos. Well done!
Interesting. In the Netherlands we used to understand that. Unfortunately, the last 20 years or so, the government started selling social housing to foreign investors and stopped building new affordable housing mostly. Also, house prices have risen very rapidly, so as you said, more homelessness. Everybody wants to be able to house anyone who needs it, but it's getting harder every year. Even IF you can pay for one. Oh, not allowing people to live in holiday homes really doesn't help..
Some in the U.S. are starting to change. The new mayor of Denver, Colorado has started an initiative to house 1000 of the homeless in Denver and permanently close homeless encampments by the end of the year. Not sure if they'll meet their goals, but they are trying. Some of their strategy is to convert hotels into housing and procure micro-community units.
Hi Ashton, as you can imagine, I have some insides into this;-)
I grew up in a small village in the Black Forest, about 70 Km from Freiburg. My father was an alcoholic and practically homeless. I grew up with foster parents in the same village. The village had 2 houses with a total of about 20 apartments, housing about 30-40 "homeless" people. From time to time, I visited my father and asked him, "How is this paid?". He said that the State of BW is paying the rent as well as GEZ, electricity and water. In addition, he got an amount of DM per month from the federal govt to live. Keep in mind, this was about 40 years ago! What I am saying is, that in Germany, the first entry in the constitution is "human dignity shall be inviolable and all state authority shall respect and protect it". That by itself, is the most important entry and gives the right to these people in need to have a roof over their head.
Now, in contrast to the US. My oldest daughter got separated from her fiancé, with 2 kids and another on the way. She then lost her job due to business restructuring while being in Phoenix, not where I live. Now, theoretically, she would have become homeless if we didn't move her back to us. To get support from the city, state or federal govt, it would have been a multiple year road while she would have slept in her car....with a newborn! What I am saying is, it is inhumane the way people are treated in the US and that greed and inequality is actually thriving and seen as a "good" thing as it shows that when you "get up and work hard", you can do it. What they do not understand, is the fact that not everybody can earn 6 figures, as otherwise the USD would become worthless and inflation would be like in Argentina.
Thanks for the video and have a great Sunday.
I think if California was dealing with only homeless Calfornians it would have been able to solve it. But it is dealing with homeless people from all over the country. And the more you try to solve homeless problem the more you attract the homeless. It is a vicious cycle of homelessness.
Interestingly the majority of homeless people lived in homes in the same area they are now shelter less. They are mostly local.
palletshelter.com/blog/homelessness-myths-they-are-not-local/
This, again, was a very well produced and researched subject. Why, in modern times, are we not able to solve our common problems. Many of your subjects touch on this question. I'm a fan.
Thank you for your research. I've been wondering how other nations address homeless, but it's a hard topic to accurately assess due to different individual situations, culture, regulations etc let alone it's hard just to accurately count and assess the background of each homeless person. Thank you for all your videos, and don't let these haters on CZcams get to you!
Treat people as human beings with basic needs that deserve to be met and homelessness goes down? Shocking!! Wish my American govt reps would embrace the concepts of humanity and the good of the group rather than rampant individualism. Thanks Ashton - on point as always!
It would benefit society and the government, but not individuals in a sense. A real estate developer isn't going to build a midrise to house homeless people, nah, they want that money. And why rent out 200 units at $600 a month (imaginary hypothetical break even point for this example) when all the neighbors are charging $1600 a month? Hell, $1500 is already a relative discount right? Sure it prices out the people who now have to remain homeless. It has to come from the government, which is funded by citizens, and then you get the NIMBYs. It's just not going to happen easily.
I don't know what the answer is, but I will share a story.
I live in a rural area with high tourism. Housing prices went up 44% during the pandemic.
This led a lot of landlords to sell their houses out from under tenants, often families. Two students I taught in 2021 had this happen to them.
Whether the housing was re-rented at a higher price, turned into Air BnB's, or occupied by someone new to the area making higher wages by working remotely - it all means rental affordability has become a huge issue in my town.
We don't see a lot of homelessness on the street, but there are sure as heck people crashing with family, in housing too small for the number of people, or having to move away from their jobs and lives, to be able to afford housing.
Honestly, i think homelessness in the US is 3 to 4 times higher than official stats
Especially if you take into account all the people living in their cars
Thank you for this informative video Ashton. I hope this will open the eyes of a few of your fellow americans also.
Ashton, once again a remarkable episode! I admire that you have the strength to continue waving the banner of humanity high in everyone of your episodes. You also manage in a remarkably pedagogic way to explain that providing human rights to everyone is a common responsibility for us all, that has nothing to do with any political -isms.
I still hope that facts and knowledge will prevail over conspirator theories and fake news.
Thank you so much
Your videos are incredible! What you do is journalism at its best! Thank you very much for your work!
That's something that depressed me about LA... Been there three times in recent years and was surprised at the number of homeless, sometimes in affluent areas where people routinely drove by in luxury exotic cars... It really was a stark contrast. I'm used to a few homeless here and there temporarily sleeping outdoors, but in LA I saw something I'll never forget... Someone had set up a tent under an overpass with permanent furniture outside, like a shelf with painy cans etc., right there on the pavement... Not to mention the rows of tents you could see when riding on a train from a suburb outside of LA to central LA...
So much wealth in one place, yet so many disenfranchised in the same place...
It's interesting that we supposedly had about twice as many homeless per 10000 as the US, yet it's so much more obvious in some places of the US, and for some reason a lot of those places look so much worse (garbage littering the streets etc.). It's more in-your-face. I wonder how many are permanently homeless for long periods and how many are temporarily homeless
The US and European definitions of homelessness are vastly different, she should have been clearer on that in the video. In the US you can be living in your car and not count as homeless. Not so in Europe. And thats just one example
Enlightening. Thank you for this video.
Thank you for being a good human.
Thank you Ashton for your extremely well researched and very relevant topics!
I think you have missed a few big factors in Europe. Firstly freedom of movement. I have worked in Germany and Austria with the Homeless and roughly 70% of all homeless people who sleep in the streets (at least in summer) are from near Eastern European states. Vienna has a four tiered approach. If you have lived in the City for at least 10 years and are a permanent resident. You become homeless, you will be given hotel accomodation until you get a apartment. You also qualify for a ticket that means the state pays part of your rent. Your benefits will normally pay the rest. If you have been in Vienna under 10 years but are permanent resident of austria. You get a hotel for up to a month, and then typically a room in a half way house indefinitely. Under five years and not Austrian but you have worked in Austria as an EU you get a bed in a dorm for a couple of weeks and then typically a room in a half way house. Then EU nationals who haven't worked in Vienna get 5 days a month in a dorm. Apart from September to April when they are guaranteed a dorm room if they behave. Illegal residents are typically just allowed a dorm bed in winter (typically they actually just sleep at the sleep rooms in day shelters). The reason Austria does this is to try and put off homeless people from Eastern Europe moving to Austria.
In Latvia, the active opponents of social housing are the owners of private apartments, because it reduces the demand for private apartments and thus lowers rent prices. As a result, social housing projects are slowing down a lot.
Dear Ashton, I can underline every word you sayed. You are so right.
Extraordinary video. Thank you. At some point, you should do a whirlwind lecture tour of the US and do a "best of" medley of your insights gleaned from all your work put into this channel. The material for this video should definitely be one you include. As condescending as this may sound all around, we seriously could use such a lecture tour!
In Belgium where I live now, my impression is that in Brussels there are quite some immigrants waiting to request asylym, that sleep in and around certain train/metro stations. There will undoubtedly also be homegrown homelessness, but there are some mechanisms that maybe slow this down a little. F.i. parents are responsible for their offspring up to age of 25 - as long as they study successfully. So if the child moves away from the family home because of some rift with the parents, it doesn't always mean they aren't liable for support. Equally, children are responsible for their parents, so if an elderly person doesn't have the means to pay for a care home f.i., the state will turn to the children and based on their individual ability to pay, will ask for a contribution. So I guess there is an incentive that family members try to support each other. Then in case of general economic crises where layoffs in large numbers can disrupt iour ability to hang on to housing, Belgium has a system of temporary unemployment benefits, making it easier for employers to hang on to skilled staff but not have to pay them in case of temporary lack of work. It's proven this helps the economy to bounce back quicker. During the Covid crisis the state added some extra money for increased energy costs and negotiated with banks and energy companies to not for-close on people with difficulties to pay off the debt, and to work out payment plans etc. Everything to keep people in their homes. I remember in Sweden in 2008 economic crisis, people who lost their jobs, many didn't have unemployment protection (there it's an optional insurance), and suddenly boats and cars and apartments went up for sale in significant numbers to try to keep food on the table. On the whole, Belgium is not very good at investing in social housing. There is more a tendency that private people invest in apartments or renovate houses, and the social services can offer them a rental contract where they take care of maintenance, makes sure the rent is paid etc, which enables them to provide subsidised housing without making big investments themselves. On the other hand, in Belgium 70% of the population are house owners and fixed rate mortgages are most popular, so sudden changes in the economy, with the extra support measures in place regarding unemployment benefit do seem to protect against worst case scenarios. But I'm sure there are still enough people falling through the cracks here too, as we have quite a complicated governmental structure and a lot of responsibilities are divided over various departments, which will likely always make our government less agile and effective than it could be.
Thanks for reel and correct info :)
Governments of all rich countries know that access to affordable housing is the key measure against homelessness. All governments keep repeating their pre-election promises to build more affordable housing but that just never seems to happen. And especially here in Germany our immense bureaucracy apparatus makes things even more difficult and more expensive. And it often takes years to get all the permits and it costs tons of money. Money that an increasing part of the population simply no longer has access to.
Fortunately I have never been homeless but I had a friend temporarily move in with me because he lost his home after his divorce. Even for me it wasn't easy, can't imagine how terrible it must have been for him. Sure, beats sleeping in the car, but that's not difficult.
As usual these social problems have political solutions, but since most politicians do not act for the benefit of the people (instead they act for the benefit of those corporations that also pay them) these problems won't be addressed anytime soon.
Homeless people need help with finding shelter, with affording food but esp. with the treatment of health (esp. mental) problems, and overcoming substance abuse. Free health care can be one part of the puzzle, rooms for safe substance use (including safe materials) can be another. Support by social workers for everything else (dealing with government agencies, landlords, debt collectors etc.) and government subsidies for housing and living costs are other parts of the puzzle.
I find the Finnish approach remarkable and a model, that should be adopted in Germany too.
First and foremost, great video essay on that topic. It is funny that I had to write an essay for my university program about finding strategies against the homeless issue in the U.S. just a couple of weeks ago. Besides the Housing First model of Finland, which I hope is applicable not only in Soumi, but also in other nations that face this problem, I think the U.S. has to destigmatize and decriminalize homelessness in the first place. It is way more costly to cycle homeless people through this punitive method than actually providing housing.
Looking forward to more content of yours. I really like your style of in-depth but still easy follow approach of tackeling important and thought-provoking topics.
Greetings, my fellow Baden-Würrtemberg citizen, from Mannheim. :)
Have a nice weekend.
Slight correction, Scotland is part of the United Kingdom - what you were referring to was England, Wales & Nthn Ireland. We have a very messy devolution system.
I feel that if the "Free Market" has failed to provide basic essentials like healthcare, food, housing, water, heating/cooling, electrical, and telecommunication (including internet and cellular) within reasonable rates proportional to the cost-to-live and average income of the bottom 80% of the population of a governed area; that the governance of that area has every right and should be required to intervene by claiming some sort of "failure to serve" and usurping each of these basic needs/rights for the purpose of subsidizing them based on individual income or lack thereof. Sorry for the run-on sentence, but it's a complicated thought. Affordable housing in the US is an absolute disaster because the government won't step in and force direct change. What happened to government subsidized housing in the US? Sure, there's some, but it's all on waiting lists with anywhere from 6 months to 2 year long waits from what I've seen. The US is about to hit the same housing crisis that's already started to collapse in China.
It has always been so interesting to see the pushback towards government subsidized housing in the States. And I always thoughts there seemed to be a "definition" problem.
Most Americans happily accepted the mortgage interest rate deduction on their taxes, government subsidized loans, etc. (which is a roundabout way the government helped to offset their housing costs)... The only reason we don't call this a "government subsidized housing program" is a neuance of language and not reality. It's strange how we decry helping renters and low income individuals and families but praise helping homeowners and wealthy person's.
Yes the US government subsidises housing to a huge extent, it’s just the vast majority of those subsidies go to suburban home owners. but the very people in recite of such vast government support think it’s appalling and wasteful when those without the means to get a mortgage or even afford rent receive subsidies too
Free market capitalism is doing as intended, making a few insanely wealthy by impoverishing the majority. Marx saw economic systems as an evolutionary scale. We are now moving backwards, returning to feudalism, peasants and capital owners. Democracy, social equality were a blip. The rich looked upon democracy and saw it was bad, so bought that system too. How else do you get millions of peasants ‘voting’ for millionaires who keep them in poverty? They bought the media and socially engineered the morons to vote against their own interests
The free market specifically dont work for basic nesesseties, since everyone need them regardless they set the price to whatever they feel like
What free market? @@minsin21
I had no idea it was so high here in Sweden. Around 10 years ago you started seeing Romanian people begging on the streets. Before that I had never seen that in Sweden. But I’m not too surprised considering the cost of homes and lack of housing that seems to get worse each year. When I grew up in the 90s there were areas with vacant apartments but now it’s years of waiting for an apartment if you can’t afford to buy one.
You dont see any homeless encampments in Sweden. Its just that she is using vastly different definitions of homelessness for different countries, which makes this video confusing.
Considering different policies and how they play out is so important to making things better. Canada is not as bad as the US, but we're clearly on that path. Municipal governments often implement housing-first policies, but because the money for new homes is supposed to come from higher orders of government, it's always missing.
It seems like Europe has mostly provided adequate temporary shelter, something that isn't adequate in North America, but only Finland has gone the rest of the way to providing adequate permanent housing.
Its not only Finland, the rest of the nordic countries have very similar social services to Finland, and other countries in Europe aswell. I think she is lacking in some knowledge about certain European countries and their systems
Also very good; the tenant union does a very good job in building communities to fight against eviction. Really worth looking into it.
10:46 I guess the figure on screen shouldn't include a "%", i.e. 0.0005 (or rather 0.0007 based on 3,686 in 5.5 million), right?
Also, based on the chart at 4:29, Mississippi would have a rate of 0.0004 (or 0.04%).
You are correct. Finland is actually higher than Mississippi. Granted what it means to be considered homeless in both places may not be the same, but based on the data available those would be the correct numbers.
And then there's also the issue of some states bussing all their homeless to other states.
Here in the UK many folks lived in council housing. About 20yrs ago the councils started selling off the council owned dwellings. Today homelessness is an issue. You see its great for those who can afford it to buy investment properties and rent them out. But many folks simply cannot afford the constant rental increases, not to mention young people on very low incomes. The constant battle to pay your rent on a below par wage must be so stressful. When i see the homelessness in California i just know that capitalism is failing. 😮
Thank you for this video Ashton. Very important topic. It seems to me (here in Germany) that the visible homeless/begging people are becoming more but I'm not sure if that is actually true. And if it is the same with the invisible (sheltered) homeless. The need for subsidized housing and food (e.g. "Tafel") definetely increased. But it seems far far away from what I've seen from USA. I hope we adopt the finnish system and improve the lives of many and our society as a whole.
21:15 This reminded me of when I had heavy depression and could not work. To know your apartement, and your health needs are paid for no matter what and you have at least some income, is a huuuuge burden that is taken from you. I honestly dont know if I would still be alive if I hadnt had that at the time. And this is really the right way to do it. I am german.
I can totally sympathise. I have experienced burnout twice in my life and every time I had to do even a small thing like transfer money for the energy bills (even though I had the money), was a struggle which I pushed out in front of me and caused irrational stress. So if money is tight on top of that, it's easy to see how it could completely paralyze you, which could lead to a downward spiral of problems. And for people who do end up on the streets, I can well imagine how you could get addicted to all kinds of things (if you weren't already) just to try to escape the harsh reality and hopelessness.
In Brazil, millions of people are poor, but most of them are not without a roof, bed and kitchen. The first priority in Brazil is to have a payed roof over your head, because there is no parent state to provide this. The second reason is that when you get older and are out of the market, you need peace and security with a paid-for house or apartment. The mentality in the US is "how can I make money" by buying a house with a large mortgage. Profit is the goal, not life security! It has to be big and no one is thinking about the future if they can pay off the loans. It's living on a fantasy island where the sun always shines, for everyone. This fundamental (consumerist) attitude is now turning against many and people see themselves as victims of their own short-sighted behavior.
Oh also don't get me started on affordable housing. I moved to Florida because there was a good German school down there (my daughter was born and spent the first 3 years of her life in Switzerland. My husband is Swiss and wants we child to learn her families language plus German). It took us 4 months to find an apartment that was affordable and would take us. In South Florida they want to make 2.5x-4x the rent in month salary (if you go for a 3,000 a month apartment your salary needs to be 7,500-13,500 a month), you need a credit rating of at least 650, you need to pay first, last, and security deposit before you get in (your rent for the first month would be 7,500 because of first, kast, and security), and you need to pay 2 a security deposit of electricity before the electricity company will take you. The apartment we found it we had to pay $9,000 for the first month in rent, first, last, security, and electricity. Our rent is only $2,000 a month. My security deposit on electricity was $2,000. We don't use $2,000 worth of electricity. We are unlucky if we have to pay $400 for a month of electricity. We keep our air conditioner warmer than most, we keep our refrigerator a degree warmer than most, and we turnoff lights and products that sucks electricity when not in use. Our refrigerator was set to 4 C (yes our fridge reads C) whem we moved in. The recommended temperature for food is 7 C. Keeping the A/c warm and refrigerator warm 60% of our electricity bill went down.
Also a friend of mine gets housing from the state of Florida. He was homeless for 9 months. He would still be homeless if we didnt move to Florida. We are taking his housing check. He couldnt get an apartment to accept him because his credit score was 550 and needed a 600 ro get in most apartments. No one cared it was the government paying forhis housing not him so he lived on the streets. His doctor didnt care he was homeless (she actually found him disgusting), and his family didnt care he was homeless (his brother and sister are alive). When I was going through with my issue of finding an apartment my brother said "you and your family will never ever be homeless. We dont have a big house, but we would work something out."
6:10 I'm from Lithuania and i don't remember the last time I've seen a homeless person not that they don't exist. Visible homelessness used to be a sight in the area i live 7 years ago.
Yes, she is using vastly different definition of homelessness for Europe, which makes the video confusing
In Canada our Federal Government downloaded housing responsibility to the a
Provinces, who in turn downloaded the housing responsibility to the municipalities. This has led to a sharp drop off in rental units being constructed over the past 40 years. Shelters are overflowing, the number of visible homeless people has easily quadrupled and there aren't even enough emergency warming centres to help keep people warm for a few hours during the winter months. In my city, council voted against a tiny homes pilot project, then they finally approved it, but the neighbourhood complained, and it was cancelled due to the location not being ideal. Those who are against social housing here think that if the government builds housing for people, it will make them freeloaders who won't work and we will become a communist country. 🙄 Or, pur country is too big, we can't possibly do what Finland does. I like what Finland is doing and I would love to see it replicated in our cities in Canada.
Our Family enjoys your videos. Also, have you heard of the music group Die Draufganger in Germany? We like their videos and have wondered if you know of them.
Great video - critically important topic.
As someone from Czechia, the amount of homelessness in USA seems almost grotesque to me. I've NEVER seen anyone bunkering a tent like that in Prague. If I come across ONE homeless person here in a day, I'd call that above average.
Im an american citizen who went homeless in Spain. I was staying in the country illegally, in spain they are so welcoming to illegal people. It was a good life when I lived on the streets. Yes people steal, and people steal a whole lot. But I learned to live without needing anything and superficial things and vanity. I focused on my spirituality & I began having Spiritual dreams from beings from other universes. Weird dreams ,as if they were angels to support me . Anyways being homeless in Europe Spain was Nice. i met a homeless french guy in Spain & we decided to travel to France together. It was so much fun. We jumped the train stations and did not have to ever pay anything. We traveled homelessly. It was difficult but was actually one of the best times of my life, Spain is such a nice place to live if your homeless and so is france . My french friend showed me a nice forest with a river to live at. We could always ride the train to paris for Free. I then began resenting living in a home. Houses became unattractive & they even cost money . Actually I would choose Madrid or cadiz to be homeless. But Im trilingual, I speak spanish but not french, but It was still great to live in france without speaking the language . All in all I stayed in Spain. Its better in Spain than in America. Capitalism is so immoral . Id much rather work at burger King in europe than have a high paying job in the united states . But Id much rather be homeless in spain than in the united states. In america they imprison everybody in mental health facilities and in prison systems. Europe is definitely more lenient
Brilliant deep dive into the background and effects of the subject, as always! Keep it up please.
As o the facts: Finland for example excels in making it's communities more liveable. The US - in contrast - is focused on improving it's status and international influence (mainly by investments into bigger guns). I wonder, if we will ever experience a US population that will no longer be content with just being constantly told they belong to the best country in the world, but will start to claim to be treated as valuable human beings by their own state.
He'll, I am happy to live over here in Germany!
Scotland is part of the UK... probably you mean England (or England and Wales, and/or Northern Ireland?)
As far as I am aware, homelessness is one of the issues that the devolved governments in the UK deal with separately, meaning Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England each have different policies. That being said, there are still statistics that lump all four countries together. Since England is by far the most populous out of the four, those statistics will probably be skewed to be more representative of the situation in England. Scotland seems to have the most supportive policies and there are specific studies on the policies in Scotland and their impact.
The reason we don't simply build permanent housing for homeless (at least here in CA) is because the cost of housing, and building, is incredibly high, like a sizeable fraction of $1M per apartment. You have land that is already all owned and occupied, the only way to build enough affordable housing in CA in the places where ppl live like bay area and LA would be to literally seize people's homes by eminent domain, tear them all down, and build tall multifamily housing in their place. Voters undersandably won't support that. When I say "enough affordable housing" I don't mean enough for the street homeless. The truth is, unhoused people are just the tip of the iceberg in places like CA and NYC. There's a lot of underhousing, ppl living in vehicles or overcrowded apartments or storage units or couch surfing. There's just been too much population growth in these areas, combined with too much regulation of construction, to keep up with demand over the last few decades. CA need millions of units, and I don't mean $600,000 condos, more like $1000/mo apartments. The economics just don't work. The US needs better planning and regulation of economic growth to prevent it all from agglomerating in a few supermetros where nobody can afford to live. While all this is going on in CA and NYC, they've been tearing down abandoned houses in Detroit and Buffalo, to clear out the crack houses. My old neighborhood is a grass field now. There's enough land in the US to house everyone, but not where the jobs and people are.
bareley anyone talks about this topic. That honours you, that you do it.
About 4 years ago, I tried on purpose, out of interest, to live for 2 months like a homeless (In Austria*). It was much, much worse, than expected. It was terrible. I continued working normally during the day but nobody knew that I was homeless, as it was anyway illegal to be without address. The state with it's rules make you quickly being/acting illegal, if you have no home anymore.
At the bottom of the society, the downward sprial brings you so fast lower and lower how you can't imagine.
I met other homeless people who lived hidden, not registered.
Shame to all the countries in the world (I guess all except Finland maybe), where exists no human right that you have in any(!) case an accomodation on a minimum level for a minimum of human dignity. Like it should be the case for access to water, health care, some basic food and a minimum of school education for free.
*officially Austria does a lot agains homelessness, but in some parts they fail totally like all the other states, especially all the contradictory laws that makes your situation very difficult if you are homeless.
Thank you Ashton. A Finn here who often ends up talking about the homelessness in the US; the public opinion is completely ass-backwards in the states and the average-joe seems to truly believe that people are homeless *because* they have mental health- and addiction issues, and that it's completely justified to expect the homeless to first get clean, solve their problems and even find a job before "deserving" a home. It's so hard to get many to even consider the possibility that maybe the addiction and mental health issues are ofted caused by homelessness, not the other way around.
Homelessness is usefull for them, it tells everyone: "Take that shitty exploitative job and pay your landlord over half of what you earn or you'll end up like that dude over there"
Can you please tell me how that works out with other groups in Finnish society ? In other posts I have asked how fair it is that low-income families in poor accommodation ( which i presume also exist in Finnland ) are ignored and this very expensive aid is given to the homeless ( usually a single person ) when the same money devoted to a low-income family of four would involve a much better outcome for four people ( or three ) rather than just one ?
@@derekallen3979 Every low-income household is entitled to housing support money from the government (basically up to 80% of your rent is subsidised by the government, depending on your income) so that low-income households never can become homeless in the first place. The system has the drawback that the rents for small apartments tend to be inflated, but the obvious benefit is that it takes extraordinarily bad conditions for anyone to fall through the gaps and actually become homeless.
And while it may sound incredibly expensive, it's still cheaper than having people lose their homes since that also means they lose the capability of be productive members of the society.
In germany nobody is thrown out of their flat in a hurry.
The most homeless are crazy people or drug addicts, although they get money from the state in form of citizen's money (Bürgergeld).
For unemployed people the costs of a little flat and the heating costs are normally paid by the state. In principle, nobody would have to live on the street. Nearly, everyone in gernany has a health insurance. Health insurance is also free for the unemployed.
Yes she fails to explain many of these things unfortunately
In my views the problem existed before and with some exceptions they still exists. Also some people choose to live homeless, it is a very small minority that is vagabond/tramp by choice. Also I have heard that people living in colder states/parts that are homeless still manage their way to CA also for better weather conditions, etc. Just as a side note, climate and housing are part of the current problems.
Housing problems and also migration/refugees on that same housing market, cause stress added on to problems.
I have been without a "home" in my life, but thank god have not had to live on the streets. But big part of the reasons why is; lack of affordable and decent housing. And this also ties in with the price marktes of the houses, everything ties in with money and profit making.
So here I was from a working poor family, still living at my parents home at the age of 23, already with some small but managable debts/credit payments, etc. and looking for housing to live on my own. But more or less stuck in my parental house in part due to lack of housing!
[2003, and my cousin who was a single young mother was also looking for housing. Families and women/girls with children had more access to housing because of the children than a single male like me (also logical but not fully fair). And she had actual housing long before I did.]
I had been kicked out of the house after coming out as gay, and lived on couches and in the car. Since the age of 23.
I lost my job (3 shifts job), and had to apply for social security. Which is a process, and takes time.
In the end 10 of the 12 months in a year I had to live on barely nothing had bills but no income, and my debt grew, and grew.
I lived on a camping, in a trailor, because my then partner was living there, we then moved to a different city for housing and had to start the process all over with social security, and finding a job.
There we lived Anti-Kraak [Anti-squatting]; housing that is empty and you sign a contract that you are more or less a caretaker of the property have to pay a little "rent" but it is cheap and has gas, water, electric inlcuded, but you have a 2 week notice if you have to get out. The reason you are there is so the building can't get squatted. It was better than nothing but not very stable living, a two week notice to get out and packed and moved someplace else is not easy. With a little luck there is a different Anti-squatting building they'll have for you, but as in our case you had to move to a different city again, just not to be homeless.
Then the divorce happened and more or less the same issues with finding housing in the end.
But in the end I have managed to rent a house in my early 30's, let's say it took me 10 years.
and at the age of 37 bought a house with my partner - with still 30 years untill retirement to go, also with the mortgage.
And a few generations later, not much has changed to improve these things.
And this housing crisis is part of the reason also why PVV won the elections in the Netherlands, the Dutch Trump; Geert Wilders.
We had immigrant problems in Europe, and refugees, and already housing shortages also tied in with building restrictions and CO2 / the climate.
Also if the shit hits the fan with sea levels rise, and soil erosion, the Netherlands is F cked. A large part was already below sea levels to begin with, so housing and relocations of humans. What can we say. Have and have not.
Prices of housing being too high, also tied in with multiple reasons, it is all about the haves and money.
I am "doing fine" but it has been a struggle, and I am still debating if it was worth it in the end. Guess we'll have to watch untill the fat lady has sung.
But the rent house problems are also often the same, things are broken and not fixed, things are not up to standards, but not fixed - and once fixed the prices go up. Money and it's need/capacity to roll.
As a Native Hawaiian, I'm astonished to see the rate of homeless Pacific Islanders. The graph you showed (18:25) that breaks down the numbers by race was the first time I saw any such breakdown, so it was a shock to see it. The people of Hawaii, native and non-native, numbering in the thousands each year, have been leaving the islands because of the unaffordability of housing. As most Pacific Islanders have relatives in the islands, leaving the islands means a last resort, an inability to stay with relatives out of shame or other reasons, and a detachment from social bonds. They left because they were able to. Otherwise they'd also be homeless, and I bet some of them have also experienced homeless at one time. Some of them no doubt became homeless after they left. I say this with confidence because I once saw a documentary that showed a woman from Hawaii living underground somewhere in Las Vegas. It's so saddening and upsetting. I'm also one of those who left.
Nit pick: Scotland is part of the United Kingdom.
Planning permission for new estates in the UK is dependant on a certain proportion being social housing.
Thanks so much. I'm a California Boy and I am ashamed for my country. I know that is not your intention, but it seems to be the natural result. Overall, we Americans have been encouraged to err on the side of selfish interests, and it shows.
Didnt you listen to your television or read the papers, us is the greatest country in the world, the leader of the free world etc, and can do no wrong
Great essay overall! I have to say, I was surprised to see Germany so up high on the list at first. But then if you think about all the people from South East Europe in many city centres and around central station, it feels right.
Still, I wonder if the figures are somewhat comparable, as each country follows different criteria. In the OECD report it says for Germany for example that it includes refugees that wait for a permanent place to live. Good to know but that's rather an external factor and doesn't say much about risks of getting homeless.
Yes this video is highly confusing, she is using different defintions for different countries. Its laughable to say that UK has more homeless than US
Another thought provoking video well presented and full off good information.
What does "amaze" me a bit is that typically the "socialist" approach also seems from an economic pov to make the most sense (i.e. best result for the best price).
We often "want" our governments to spend "less" (or "leave it to the market") not more efficient.
I know you did an episode on education but I'd be interested in knowing if countries with "free education" also raise more taxes (per capita) as taces are the "income" of a government.
Maybe more precisely put how would policies on education, healthcare look if observed from the governments pov and assuming that more "income/taxes" is the goal...
Anyways have a great sunday and see you next week.
There's no bad or good economic system. Stuff like capitalism and socialism are tools/systems to run economy and society. Tools should be used were they work the best for job you are doing. For example I think it has been proven that that stuff like plentiful public housing, public healthcare etc. Just work better.
I personally really like free market, it's great for innovation and creating wealth, which can be used privately for business and fun, and for taxes that fund our public services. But it just does not work for everything. And it's not even strictly public vs private, sometimes you might want something to work 40% public 60% private. Or for example you might want to run some service as public, but outsource some elements of it and have private business compete for those slots.
Ultimately, we should do what's most effective for our goals, which in my opinion is maximizing well being of the people. That includes many factors. Personally, I get quite triggered by capitalism vs socialism debate since it's just stupid. You don't want to run capitalist or socialist state, that would be total disaster. You want to use these tools of society where they bring about best effect.
@@mukkaar while I tend to agree with the sentiment of your response (thanks for writing it) and I believe (and agree with you that) we should looks at what's best for society.
What I differ on is that there has as far as i recall never been any conclusive proof that the "free market" has done anything but enrich the few at the cost of many (no consolidation has ever lowered prices, no trickle down, no stock buy backs etc)
I feel it is the government's job to work on behalf of its citizens opposed to what a business should do (work for the shareholder) and even mixing systems like we did in the Netherlands with "marktwerking in de zorg" has only increased the price of healthcare and not reduce it despite all the "free market" gurus telling it was the only way forward for our healthcare system.
Also like the innovation you mention, most of it actually is state sponsored with most R&D being done at universities etc...
Anyways again my thanks for the response .
The intro at the start about California as a shining beacon reminds me of Spielberg's movie '1941' when the Imperial Japanese sub sinks a Ferris wheel. Don't know why but serious Freudian symbolism going on right now.
Thank you. How do I learn more on how the Fins are doing this? I'm a little frustrated, in my local city, I do see the prices of housing go up. The City struggles on low income housing, the city keeps growing and developers keeps building luxury apartments. Our homeless seems to be hiding. I have just heard that the City will now start finning homeless people if found on public land. This sounds like it will keep the cycle of homelessness. I agree, we need to feed them and offer a safe place to live. Then guide them on a path to help themselves. I'm in South Eastern Minnesota, USA.