We Europeans have our own troubles with homelessness and beggars (currently esp. German cities with Romanian and Bulgarian beggars), but well, we at least crack down on insecure housing.
Something like the mentioned shelter in the article would not survive a single day under inspection. If a landlord would rent (or let people live in) such a house, he would immediately 1) have all people taken out by government and 2) find himself in jail or with hefty fines. I wonder why NYC let this shelter open despite dozens upon dozens of complaints!