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> So all in all, Germany still has homeless people, despite welfare programs generous enough in principle that no one needs to be homeless.

One of the reasons is that for being part of those programs, the people have to want to be re-integrated, leave out any kind of drugs that there were using, take part in employment trainings,... and not everyone is keen in going through that and rather stay on the streets.



Agreed.

I would formulate it slightly more cynically: to be part of many programs you have to go through the right motions so that the civil servant in charge can tick the box that says 'wants to be re-integrated' etc.

If you are literate enough with bureaucracy and paperwork, that's not too much of a hassle; and they can't really look into your heart and see that you'd really rather sit at home, collect welfare and play computer games, compared to working a low paying, entry-level job.

But the skills that make this dissembling easy are also the same skills that make holding down many kinds of job easy. Especially low level, white collar jobs. Conversely, the people who can't get nor keep a job or also likely to lack these skills and preferences for playing the bureaucracy.




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