Submitted by Chomskyist in Anarchism (edited )

In Europe you can at least busk... People live homeless in Europe as a punk rock esque statement.

Also they don't kill homeless people in Europe like they do in the US, people respect the homeless a lot more out there in Europe.

It's not as segregated, because people go to Europe to backpack from all over the world, while the only point of going to America is to gamble at "the American dream."

Our culture is very different in that way.

Being homeless in Europe is like... I almost want to say it doesn't even count. it counts, and it should be examined... But it's not the same thing. being homeless in Europe has a little bit more traveler's romanticism tied into it. Tourists often hang out with homeless people. You never see backpacking tourists around here. You do, but it's so rare. I think i've seen two in my life - people walking around CA with backpacking backpacks like that. They were obv European.

It's really only reserved for more well to do people. Backpacking. You have to be from a certain class like me or people who go to college mostly.

People who can take time off work or have these luxurious freedoms that not everyone has in this country.

People like me can dream about backpacking, not everyone gets to dream so big out here. In Europe people become homeless because they want to see what it's like, they are interested in the culture, ect. a lot of people who become 'homeless' in Europe do it because they want to have that free experience. It''s almost like a right of passage out there.

Out here no one wants to be homeless. It''s a much different culture and the respect for homeless people is less and also there are less ways for homeless people to get by because of that. That adds to the disdain for homeless people because homeless people have to get by regardless so they are forced to do some things that they have a hard time going to sleep with on their conscience..... Which leads to more drug use as well.

There are way more drugs out here for homeless people and alcohol. In europe not every homeless person is on drugs.

A lot are, but not every one. Out here i think it's safe to say that most are. at least the people i see in my city, which are many - they all seem like they do some kind of drug or alcohol. Most people do period out here but especially within the homeless communities. The drugs are more dangerous too. We don't have opium that i know of. We have heroine and pills.

While i heard of heroine when I lived in Spain, I didn't actually see it. I did some coke and speed there but it wasn't very good. I didn't see it very often. If i were homeless here i guarantee that it would pass through my paws. Also we have a legitimate system of how to find drugs we have markers and i didn't hear anyone talk about that out there. I didn't know of any drug dealers. out here homeless people HAVE to live in communities simply for protection.

From what i heard the homeless is getting worse in Europe though because of the refugees coming in and more competition for limited resources.

It's a different breed of homeless.

But they are still allowed to make money selling stuff, busking, that's allowed in Europe. In America busking is regulated. Oddly enough there are designated areas you are allowed to busk only and even then you have to have a permit.

You would sooner get into trouble busking somewhere than begging.

And meanwhile people like my parents look at the beggars and say at least if they were doing something to earn the money. Playing an instrument or something like that.

But they don't understand that that's simply not allowed.

That's why my heart goes out to the homeless so much. I've seen and lived from so many different sides of this coin. Lived and seen so many different perspectives. And the truth is that homelessness nowadays is a reality that people who don't want to get into debt are about one bad week away from. If you don't have an income or aren't in school - you are not even afforded the luxury of getting into debt. Now they have loan programs for people who can't afford stuff or who have bad or no credit... High risk loan credit that is as high as 26%.

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josefStallman wrote

As someone who was briefly homeless in America after some family conflict, yeah, it sucks.

Fortunately, I was enrolled in my local university, and had access to stuff like showers. Free food is handed out pretty often, and everywhere was busy enough that walking off with some food wasn't going to get noticed. I could sleep in university buildings when I didn't have class and if someone found me they just assumed I had fell asleep studying or something. I didn't look or act homeless, so most of the time people didn't bother me. The public transportation in my city is good enough that I never really had to worry about getting around, and I got to use it for free as a student. I kept my job for long enough to find some better living options.

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BabyCroc wrote

Is the homeless population in the US higher since Trump?

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vacuousaptitude wrote (edited )

I don't know how common it is in Europe, I fully assume it exists, but homeless spikes and dividers are a really common thing in the states, and it's definitely fucked.

Spikes look like this and are designed to prevent homeless people from sleeping or 'loitering' thereby lowering precious property values.

The dividers can look like this or they can be barriers like this

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Cosmicsloth42 wrote

After I dropped out of college I went rubber tramping for a bit. Can anyone tell me how Rubber Tramping compares in Europe. I feel like it must be significantly different.

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Morrison wrote

The difference between America and Europe is indeed pretty big, but not as big as you make it out to be. At least in my experience. When I was little, nobody really hated on the homeless, but as I grew older and went to highschool, it really changed. A lot of people say things like 'well, that's their own fault' and 'they should work!'. They are saying rather mean things about 'em. Luckily it's just words, beatings and such are extremely rare. Also, in most countries it's pretty easy to get back into society after being homeless, even after years of drug abuse, etc.

So, yeah. There's a huge difference, but I don't think the tolerance towards homeless people is great. It could be my environment though.

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