Seriously thinking about leaving the UK - AIBU?

Tent cities imply hundreds and those in that link are at about thirty people.

Ireland might have bigger ones, US too. You’d need to show the numbers are equal.

Canada might have some that are bigger than here not sure.

Edit to add we usually use hotels which depending on how people feel is good or costs a fortune at a few million a day, rather than tent cities. Not sure what other countries do with that.

The tents in Seattle are US citizens
unable to afford to live in the city
but in need of medical care at the hospital
some of the people camping between the freeway and the hospital
do so to get access to their dialysis appointments

migrant rough sleeping
and citizen rough sleeping are rather different issues

I saw the tents in Dublin when I visited in June last year, there was a line of them set up along the river full of men sitting around. Quite a few had mobile phones and the tents were all the same kind like they had been handed out by a charity. A few weeks before I visited, there had been trouble and some Irish lads had destroyed tents by throwing them into the river. It said there had been at least 3 times as many as the amount I saw so not sure where the others had set up. There was tension around that area.

In the UK, I've seen the odd homeless person around my town, known drug takers who everyone knows and gets them a cup of coffee and a sausage roll from Greggs etc. They have a scruffy tent and dont seem to accept the help on offer.

I've not seen the East Europeans on the street for years around my area. They used to be on street corners selling the big issue. If they are setting up in London, Birmingham etc - why isnt the government sending them back to the EU?

Paris is an eye opener, but for me I was shocked when I visited Brussels and saw loads of immigrant men sleeping on the streets. In Athens I saw beggars weaving amongst the traffic - that was very sad. Girls and women too.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14448881/amp/Migrant-camp-problem-plaguing-Britain-Ireland-Tent-cities-pop-busy-tourist-centres-populated-young-men-Romania-councils-forced-wade-red-tape-remove-pop-hours-later.html

Growing problem could apply to anywhere. Canada too.

Given the focus on the opioid crisis lately in the US based on pharma and outcomes we don’t have the same levels.

Tent cities aren’t as much of a thing here either.

The U.K. has issues, of course it does, but I wouldn’t equate US to U.K. on those specific things, maybe Canada is closer to US than here not sure.

Have no idea on the like by like. I don’t live in the UK or US. But if anyone in the UK doesn’t think there is a growing problem, they are incredibly naive.

London has around 12,000 rough sleepers per YEAR on a population of 9,000,000
https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/housing-and-land/mayors-priorities-londons-housing-and-land/homelessness/rough-sleeping

Seattle has around 16,000 rough sleepers per NIGHT on a population of 750,000
https://seattle.gov/mayor/one-seattle-initiatives/homelessness-action-plan

Anybody trying to compare the tent city in the grounds of the hospital along I5
with any city in the UK is kidding themselves

Are you saying these cities have the equivalent opioid crisis and tent cities as the US?

Can you show in figures or an article where they are equivalent?

Remember the amount of people trying to get in, the grass isn't always greener

It didnt hit us as bad just a bit of a shake but all good.
But has hit elsewhere bad i have friends in myanmar and its awful.
We are doing everything we can at the moment to help the best way we can.
One of our friends cant find her dog another we have had no contact with but hope he`s okay but we dont know as of yet and one that cant go home because they dont know how safe the building is so have are been staying at mine and are very welcome to do so.
Ive been looking after my neighbours 2 kids since it happened as they both had to go asap to find and hope both of their parents are ok they are ok.
So yes its all going on.
It dose not and will not change my mind about coming back to the uk as this is my home and theses people are my family and have been for 22 year.

@HonoraBridge the comment about speaking the language. Yes, but when we went to live abroad we had basic language for everyday stuff and developed our fluency once there.

There are a lot of places that have English speaking facilities, I don't recommend that you just stick to these as you miss out on so much by not immersing yourself in the language/culture, but you can get by with basics to start, depending on where you go.

Alternatively, a lot of people are looking at commonwealth/former commonwealth countries where English is the main language.

I read an article recently about (I think mainly) mid thirties to mid forties looking at going abroad to live, e.g. Canada, not because it was cheaper in terms of taxation etc, but because the services they contribute to actual work and are available.

Migration is definitely on the increase.

A quick internet search - Bristol, Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Manchester, Oxford, Edinburgh, Sheffield, London, Northampton, Cambridge, Stoke-on-Trent, Leeds, Glasgow and Exeter.

It was something we saw in London on our recent visit back to the uk. There are articles about the growing problem as far back as 2019.

Lack of affordable housing is not as bad in other parts of Europe - I'd hazard a guess that away from major cities, you can find the equivalent UK housing cheaper in most European countries. We're in a relatively cheap part of France and our house would probably be 5 - 10 times more in the UK (the difference depending on where in the UK).

People aren't flogging themselves to earn enough to pay a massive mortgage and many good things flow from that - taking proper breaks, not working in the evenings so much, more time with family, better quality housing, more garden space etc.

One of my kids, if they can continue 'moving out' of their lazy late teen phase, will have a chance to study in Western France for a year which will bring a host of opportunities and access to stay in continental Europe. Just hope they grab the chance.

The problem with immigration is the way it’s handled in this country. Countries such as Switzerland and Australia also have high levels of immigration but they manage it in such a way that it benefits most people, even the low
skilled / low earners while also helping the economy.

So I don’t see anything hypocritical in complaining about
immigration in the UK and planning to move to another country, unless it’s somewhere like Germany or Ireland which has similar issues.

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Which U.K. cities are comparable to US for those issues in pp? eg tent cities, opioid etc

Personally I want to leave England & move to Scotland as feel the problem is England going downhill & Scotland is my place of birth.

Where do you live in the UK ?

To go somewhere foreign?!?! The stupidity of racism never ceases to amaze me.

Depends where you are thinking of going to.

It’s definitely a bit crap atm. But I wonder if those issues are also global. Everyone is stressed because of the insane amount of money you need to have a good quality of life. Everything feels like a slog. There are so many people here, services are a bit shit, house prices are stupid cos there are so many people. There’s no open discussion about anything, or our future, yeh it’s a bit shite. Not sure anywhere else will be any different though!?!

We left ten years ago. When I go back to the UK to visit now I thank my lucky stars we got out.

Please do your research. I don't think it's any better anywhere else

Definitely a divided country since Bre#hit.
I have applied for my Irish Citizenship and intend to downsize to France. Beautiful country and architecture. Plus I speak French.
The British are so moany and small minded. I intend to live in an international area where I can leave all that behind

This is a classic example of so many AIBU posts these days: no information about which country, so no one can offer any relevant advice, then a drip feed of OP considering an investment visa, so all the posts about skills are pretty much irrelevant.

This

I live in a lovely, safe, small rural town with a fantastic community spirit and excellent state schools. 10 minutes from the best beaches in the country and housing is far cheaper than down south. I'm not budging.

I've lived abroad and came home. The grass was not greener.