The Borgen Magazine has an article comparing homelessness in Japan and the U.S. Hat tip to Ed Driscoll posting at Instapundit for the link.
In 2020, the Japanese government’s homeless count was 3,992, making up just .003% of Japan’s population. On the other hand, the United States has a homeless population of about .2%.
Translation: the US has roughly 2/3 of a million homeless. The reasons for this difference are several, including:
Drugs other than alcohol are strictly illegal and usually only accessible through gangsters. Around 50% of drug users in Japan have gang connections. However, many of Japan’s homeless suffer from alcoholism.
Drunks as homeless was the US 70 years ago. But perhaps more important:
In Japan, someone with a mental illness is typically placed into a mental health facility, sparing them from the streets. There are 269 psychiatric beds per 100,000 people in Japan, whereas, in the United States, the number is 25.
Japan counted just shy of 4000 homeless in the whole country! (Five years ago my nearest small city in CA - pop. ca. 100,000 - had nearly that many homeless.)
If those of our addicted and mentally ill who are too wasted to maintain a residence were required to accept inpatient treatment, our homeless problem would disappear as if by magic. This seems self-evident.
However our progressives, many of whom use drugs recreationally, believe mandatory inpatient care violates the human rights of the homeless. And our conservatives don't want to spend the possibly billions in tax revenue the inpatient care would cost.
The Japanese have decided the cure is worth the cost. We have not. Thus, a compromise solution: As the demand for urban office space dries up and commercial real estate prices crash, older large buildings can be converted to bare bones shelters for the insane and addicted, off the streets and out of sight.
