• Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    Medical debt might not be a thing but losing your home because you lost your job definitely happens in Europe.

    • ThanksForAllTheFish@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      Yes, losing your home after losing your job definitely happens in Europe. The difference is that many European countries have stronger safety nets: they may help with rent, provide temporary or social housing, or use Housing First, so unemployment is less likely to end in rough sleeping. They generally won’t simply pay off your mortgage, and the help isn’t guaranteed, but keeping people stably housed can be cheaper in the long run than repeatedly dealing with homelessness. It also makes finding and keeping work much easier. In the UK, for example, eligible people may receive Jobseeker’s Allowance and help with their rent through Universal Credit, or Housing Benefit in certain circumstances.

      • Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        And yet losing your job can still quiet easily lead to homelessness. “There are capitalist countries where that doesn’t happen” isn’t an argument if it does in fact happen in those capitalist countries. We might have better safety nets, but they are band-aids that only slow the function of capitalism, they don’t solve it’s inherent problems.

        • Tja@programming.dev
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          21 hours ago

          In Germany they will pay your rent indefinitely - as long as you’re trying to find a job. Some people abuse the system, of course, but in general works well and you see very little people sleepng on the street.

            • Tja@programming.dev
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              6 hours ago

              The Federal Government acknowledges that homelessness in Germany is caused by multiple factors, “such as financial, domestic, and individual psychosocial reasons” and that it is not merely rooted in the lack of affordable accommodation.

              It’s a free country, if you want to be homeless, or you have mental health issues you don’t want to treat, the government cannot force you into a house.