Seen from the outside the US has an extremely harsh opinions on the homeless. I have often read of homeless people use of public libraries, as an argument against having public libraries at all. With a small social safety net, its weird to think that one can be without large amounts of homelessness.
I disagree. Coming from Europe the problem is that the US is filled with homeless people everywhere. It really is a crisis. Whereas in Europe you don’t really see them. It’s incomparable (and yet we still complain about homeless people in Europe).
For example I used to looooove hanging out at libraries, that’s until I moved to the US where they are crowded with homeless people.
Interesting, Europeans don’t typically say “coming from Europe” as countries in Europe are quite different. Where are you from originally and where are you in Europe?
Anecdote: the people I’ve met who feel most strongly about that are upper middle class and upwards non-religious folks, and mostly those living in or near cities.
My parents brought me up serving at food kitchens and donating to the homeless even as the recessions of 200x were hitting our family. We weren’t alone in doing that.
In my anecdotal experience the religious folks are even harsher and more hostile toward the unhoused than secular people, but that's often because they run "programs" for unhoused people which require religious participation to receive aid, and I think they're chuffed people don't take advantage despite the religious coercion.
