are there homeless people in other wealthy nations ?

[JI7]

i'm thinking places like the UK, France, Germany, Japan etc . on a level similar to ours. or is it just the United States that stands out as a wealthy nation but still has homeless people ?

[lapfog_1]

1. Before Reagan we never had the large numbers of homeless

here that we do now.

[Irreverend IX]

2. Speaking from experience...

They can be found here and there in Japan, often residing in little tent villages in city parks and the outskirts of towns. In Japan, however, most homeless are old men who lost their jobs. One tent city I saw was full of men who used to work in a local factory that closed, leaving them with no marketable job skills. As a culture oriented around nuclear families, Japan doesn't have much of a safety net for single men who find themselves out of work. Women and younger men rarely end up homeless, because they have family support systems, and unlike in America there are almost no homeless youth in Japan.

[rpannier]

3. Yes

There are homeless in Japan, the UK, Germany and France.

[Sapphocrat]

4. I have been to Australia four times...

...for between four and six weeks each time, and have spent most of my time in and around Melbourne (pop: 3.5 million). Next-largest city I've seen (outside Sydney airport, which doesn't count) so far has been Adelaide (pop: +/- 1.8 million).

I saw one person, once, who might have been mentally ill, but there's no telling if he was homeless. He was talking to thin air on a corner in a burg far from Melbourne.

My other half says my impression is correct: There isn't the kind of homeless problem there as there is here; Australia takes care of her own.


On edit: typo

[Poll_Blind]

5. I've been to a Paris, Bonn and London and I haven't seen...

...that many homeless people. Not like I see in the states, anyway. I thought twice before posting this because it seems that visiting a capitol of a country might not give you a good idea of the homeless problem in that country. Then I remembered my trip to Washington, DC. There are so many homeless in the capitol of our nation, it's not even funny. It's actually pretty amazing the amount of homeless people you see. Anyway, Bonn had the least, from my recollection. Paris, second least. London the most.

  However, it's worth noting that I was looking for American-style homeless people and in some countries, like London, you might run across people who do not have homes who do not...look homeless. I don't know if that makes any sense. I remember a homeless man (who turned out to be the estranged brother of my flat's landlord. I must've passed by him many times in the little town of Blackheath (just south of London proper) and didn't think anything particular about him: His clothes were actually what we'd consider "fancy" in the States: Tweed jacket, dress slacks, dress shoes, button-up shirt. It's funny in a way: Homeless people are generally going to get their clothes from thrift stores and so you expect most homeless in America to be dressed in a hoodie, t-shirt, sweats or jeans and sneakers. Those things are not always standard attire in other countries (not, anyway, with the frequency they are here).

  While I have traveled in the United States a good deal for business, all my trips abroad have been purely for pleasure. And my pleasure is going to a few museums, yadda yadda, but mostly just walking up and down the streets for hours. When visiting a foreign city, I really enjoy pounding the pavement, exploring every nook and cranny, until I'm almost sick of it/bored. In London, I did about two weeks of this straight. Delicious! By the time I was ready to move on, the only thing I pined for greatly were Thornton's Toffees, pretty much the best tasting thing outside of my lady's kiss.

PB

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. Canada sure does!

I have been in Ottawa Ontario and Calgary Alberta for the last six months and there are homeless fucking everywhere - as bad as anywhere I have been in the US.

San Francisco has nothing on Ottawa (which is the capital of Canada) when it comes to bums. They are absolutely everywhere and much like the US a significant portion of them are simply Katherine Harris crazy and require permanent hospitalization. I haven't noticed that many junkies, but the Canadians tell me they are really bad in Toronto and Vancouver where I have not been.

One funny thing though, I was in Ottawa in July and I was heading off to a dinner at a resturant near Parliment Hill in an area known as Byward Market that is home to the US Embassy when I see this poor man being harrased by a pair of bums. I soon notice this guy has a serious cracker accent and as I get a good look at him I notice it is none other than US ambs to Canada David Wilkins, a Bush appointee.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi policypunk!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tpsbmam]

7. Europe vs. US

http://ec.europa.eu/research/success/en/soc/0293e.html

The homeless: a matter of urgency,a question of integration

Fifty-seven million people throughout the European Union are living below the poverty line. Thirty-one million are dependent on social security. More than 17 million live in substandard or makeshift housing. 2.7 million homeless persons lead a nomadic existence, dependent on emergency solutions (friends, relatives, temporary furnished accommodation, social services), and 1.8 million must rely on hostels. Women and young people (18-25 year-olds) make up a growing number of the homeless . These figures are only approximate, since the sum total of the misery involved seems to represent a vast no man's land on which little serious research has been carried out.


National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (2004) approximates that in any given year 3.5 million Americans are homeless, including 1.35 children.

2006 population estimate EU: appx. 462,372,000
2006 population estimate US: soon to hit 300,000,000

(NOTE: The EU article doesn't state where the stats come from.)

[western mass]

8. Remember: EU includes eastern europe

...the many poorer countries of the former-Soviet Bloc.

There are homeless in England but I've seen far fewer compared to comparable cities in the US.

[tpsbmam]

9. I realize that but......

lacking the time to investigate figures for every country, it gives people a rough idea.

[intaglio]

10. The UK certainly

but you must be careful to differentiate between rough sleepers (those with no bed at all) and those without a family home. These last are reliant upon local authority supported bed and breakfast accomodation or homeless charities offering hostel accomodation.

I did a search and found (to my surprise) that at least 1 homeless charity estimates the number of rough sleepers for the whole of England at less than 250.

[rman]

11. Increasing numbers, but not nearly as much

Speaking from personal experience as a citizen of The Netherlands, comparing the situation here to what i hear about the situation in the US.

Numbers of homeless are increasing though, as most nations in the world are moving toward policies aimed at favoring corporate interests over the common good. Of the wealthy nations the US is worse only because it is leading the pack.

[radwriter0555]

12. There are more homeless in DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES than in ALL of the EU

nations COMBINED.

Chew on that for a while.

[JI7]

15. that's one reason i asked

in Los Angeles you see homeless all the time, especially when you go to downtown la. even in places like Beverly Hills it's not uncommon to see some homeless people walking around.

it's at a point now that people don't really think about it either. it's just how it is. people go on with their own lives without much acknowledgement of the homeless person.

one reason there is a lot of homeless in LA is because people drop them off there from other parts of the state and country.

but as you say even if you count the homeless in LA as being from all around the country, it would still be larger than the EU. and if it's all EU nations combined including the poor states where were part of the former soviet than that really shows how bad it is here.

based on what i read in the other posts from people who have seen homeless in other wealthy nations it's still not as bad as it's here.

[leftchick]

16. seriously?

I never knew that! United States of SHAME! :(

[izzie]

13. I have never even thought about this in other countries. Interesting

I know how this happens by family history. It does not have to be drinking. This case was just being dumped on and then going to a religious group for help and they doing the finally bad deeds. Very sad business.