They’re plumbers and casino supervisors, pizzeria managers and factory workers, they deliver groceries, they sell eyeglasses, they unload trucks on Amazon, and they’re the new, invisible face of homelessness: Working Americans with decent-paying jobs who just can’t afford a home in order for them to live.
At the same time, over 890,000 are estimated to be homeless across the European Union and Britain, according to a 2023 report published by FEANTSA (“Report: 8th Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe 2023“).
It is worth noting, in fact, that this number is equivalent to the population of a city like Turin or Marseille! At the same time, it is characteristic that the situation is more critical in Germany, where more than 210,000 homeless people are estimated, followed by France, with at least 209,000 people living on the streets.
To determine the number of homeless people, the report’s authors studied homelessness censuses conducted in each country. Adding the measurements of 13 countries, they concluded that 0.174% of the European population lives on the streets or in emergency accommodation.
Almost 900,000 homeless people in 28 European countries
In relation to the total homeless population in the EU and the UK, it stands at around 895,000 across all 28 countries.
This number is almost 200,000 higher than in 2019, the last year in which Feantsa estimated the number of homeless people.
“This calculation gives an approximate idea of the minimum extent of the phenomenon, but is not a method for determining the real number of homeless and poorly housed people in Europe,” the authors of the report emphasize.
Among the countries studied, some recorded a reduced number of homeless people, such as Finland, which has invested heavily in housing construction and implements a “Housing First” policy to provide housing to the homeless.
Austria, which also has this policy, saw its number of homeless people fall in 2020, the latest year for which data is available, but this may also be due to emergency measures taken during the pandemic, such as suspension of rental evictions, the report points out.
“All member states urgently need to design and develop national strategies to end homelessness,” said Feantsa, who is calling on the European Commission to strengthen its policies to tackle the problem.
Homelessness has increased in America
Across the Atlantic, homelessness, already at a record high last year in the U.S., appears to be worsening among people with jobs as housing becomes even more unaffordable for low-wage earners, according to shelter interviews, the increases that were noted in evictions and homelessness records across the country.
And homelessness may not be a central issue in the US presidential election, but the high cost of housing is still emerging as a major reason Americans are frustrated with an otherwise strong economy.
A recent CNN poll found that Americans cited the cost of housing as the top financial problem facing their families, ranking it just behind food prices but ahead of gas, health care, student loans and child care . More US cities and states are also citing homelessness as one of their most pressing problems, including famously – otherwise – California.
They can live, but not pay rent and utilities
For the homeless, inflation still plays an important role. In interviews with 30 people in 17 states who had recently become homeless while working, nearly all said that exorbitant rents not only drove them into homelessness, but also prevented them from securing new ones.
Many homeless workers, in fact, report being trapped in an impossible position: they make enough money to qualify for food stamps and other types of government assistance, but not enough to secure housing…
After all, the “explosion” in rental prices is global and did not leave America unaffected either. A record 12.1 million Americans – or about 1 in 4 renters – spend at least half of their income on rent and utilities, putting them at increased risk of eviction and homelessness, according to Harvard University’s Center for Housing Studies.
