Everyone in the modern world can do that (have reliable access to food+water+shelter).

This is wholly false. Me+kids frequently ate nothing but white rice for most of the 2010s. We sometimes couldn't afford rice. If it was during a school month, the kids could still eat twice. If not, then they didn't.

We barely stayed housed. The water was cut off more than once.

This is the US and our story is pretty common.