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I saw a ton of people sleeping on mattresses and blankets in German train stations last time I went. Were they just enjoying their freedom from the pressures o

I saw a ton of people sleeping on mattresses and blankets in German train stations last time I went. Were they just enjoying their freedom from the pressures of society? Maybe we should look at this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_... So what are you talking about exactly?

rndgermandude 7y ago
wtf are you talking about? This literally does not happen in normal operation (because train stations security or police aided by social workers will direct people to homeless shelters, or make them leave if they refuse homeless shelters), and only happened a few times during the height of the refugee crisis in the big cities with new arrivals coming in at a rate where the refugee and homeless shelters in those major arrival cities were overloaded and bureaucracy was too slow to process and re-distribute these arrivals quick enough to avoid some camping in train stations. The wikipedia article explicitly states: > This is a list of countries (not all 195) by the homeless population present on any given night. Different countries often use different definitions of homelessness, making direct comparisons of numbers complicated.[3] For Germany it further states: >*Includes around 350000 refugees in temporary housing or awaiting asylum. Temporary housing might be shit, but it's still better than living in a cardboard box on skid row. Unless your government provided temporary housing is a literal cage, of course, but we don't have those here. In Germany "homeless" includes all people who do not have a permanent residence, i.e. people living on the streets but also people who e.g. temporarily live with relatives or friends, e.g. because they have a hard time finding an affordable place in the overcrowded big cities. PS: I was "homeless" for about a year in Germany. I was looking for a new place after uni, couldn't find one due to overcrowding in the city I was looking in, and stayed in my parents' house during that time, just like I did in my youth. I had a better life incl more privacy there than I previously had with some roommate arrangements. But I was technically homeless under the definition they use for the stats.
soperj 7y ago
What does that have to do with the US having the resources to do something about it, and not doing anything?
acchow 7y ago
This shows the Netherlands having the same homeless ratio as the US at 0.17% I can't believe this is true. They must have different definitions for homeless.
asjw 7y ago
Where? When? City name? Station name? Did you call an ambulance? Why not?

rndgermandude 7y ago

wtf are you talking about? This literally does not happen in normal operation (because train stations security or police aided by social workers will direct people to homeless shelters, or make them leave if they refuse homeless shelters), and only happened a few times during the height of the refugee crisis in the big cities with new arrivals coming in at a rate where the refugee and homeless shelters in those major arrival cities were overloaded and bureaucracy was too slow to process and re-distribute these arrivals quick enough to avoid some camping in train stations. The wikipedia article explicitly states: > This is a list of countries (not all 195) by the homeless population present on any given night. Different countries often use different definitions of homelessness, making direct comparisons of numbers complicated.[3] For Germany it further states: >*Includes around 350000 refugees in temporary housing or awaiting asylum. Temporary housing might be shit, but it's still better than living in a cardboard box on skid row. Unless your government provided temporary housing is a literal cage, of course, but we don't have those here. In Germany "homeless" includes all people who do not have a permanent residence, i.e. people living on the streets but also people who e.g. temporarily live with relatives or friends, e.g. because they have a hard time finding an affordable place in the overcrowded big cities. PS: I was "homeless" for about a year in Germany. I was looking for a new place after uni, couldn't find one due to overcrowding in the city I was looking in, and stayed in my parents' house during that time, just like I did in my youth. I had a better life incl more privacy there than I previously had with some roommate arrangements. But I was technically homeless under the definition they use for the stats.

soperj 7y ago

What does that have to do with the US having the resources to do something about it, and not doing anything?

acchow 7y ago

This shows the Netherlands having the same homeless ratio as the US at 0.17% I can't believe this is true. They must have different definitions for homeless.

asjw 7y ago

Where? When? City name? Station name? Did you call an ambulance? Why not?