In the UK we don’t have motels as such. We tend to have Bed And Breakfast guest houses. Much smaller affairs. They can end up having the same use though as we have a growing precariat too.
There is some, perhaps better, provision for state funded emergency housing over here but claiming any kind of perfection would be very wide of the mark. It can still leave whole families in single rooms for long periods of time.
Edit: I missed out acknowledging the author’s talents as a writer, and the plight of those (on downward or maybe as another commenter points out, upwards trends). This was a very moving piece. The picture it paints is captivating and bleak.
Youth hostels serve this role in much of Europe. The Lausanne hostel would have a drunk homeless guy living there, the police would bring him in and pay for his stay. He reaked, it was difficult for me to share a dorm room with him. Good times.
Youth Hostels are a pretty good solution I think. They're designed to be simple and cheap from the start, but further I think they're designed to be durable and low maintenance too. This means you can fairly sure of a basic level of quality. Unlike numerous B&Bs or run down hotels.
I stayed in two separate youth hostels in Switzerland. One was amazing, the other was basically a camp for American students with speakers to wake you up each morning.
I wouldn’t say much of Europe. Switzerland is actually known for putting the ordinary homeless into youth hostels. Elsewhere in Europe, hostel owners are completely free to refuse to accept such people, and if you are working or volunteering in one, one of the first instructions given to you is about who to turn away, like the local homeless.
There is some, perhaps better, provision for state funded emergency housing over here but claiming any kind of perfection would be very wide of the mark. It can still leave whole families in single rooms for long periods of time.
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/homelessness/t...
Edit: I missed out acknowledging the author’s talents as a writer, and the plight of those (on downward or maybe as another commenter points out, upwards trends). This was a very moving piece. The picture it paints is captivating and bleak.