There’s A Worldwide Unhoused Crisis: Can Europe Help North America?

American & EU flags fly over tent
This scene was created by affordablehousingaction.org and is licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication

Are you North American and worried about the seemingly unmanageable growth of homelessness in your state or province? Are you thinking perhaps of moving to a kindler, gentler world, maybe in the economic security of ‘the old country’ — the cultural patchwork that is Europe?

Think again. The European Federation of National Organizations,Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA), recently published its 9th Overview of Housing Exclusion in Europe 2024. The organization reports there are just as many homeless people in Europe as there are in the US, although they may not be as visible.

FEANSTA also reports that the number of people who are homeless grew by 43% from 2023 to 20241. The most recent annual increase reported in the US was 12%2.

Generally speaking, similar economic conditions are driving a dramatic increase in poverty and homelessness on both continents. To learn more about political and economic factors that are driving the same-but-different housing crisis in Europe read more in Nordsip: Homelessness In Europe Grew by Over 40% in 2023

Footnotes

  1. Some of this increase is accounted for by a change in the methodology for counting used by FEANSTA members.
  2. This is the increase reported for 2022-2023, the most recent year available: HUD Releases January 2023 Point-in-Time Count Report