{"id":18912,"date":"2022-08-25T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18912"},"modified":"2022-10-09T04:01:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T08:01:27","slug":"homeless-houseless-unhoused-or-unsheltered-which-term-is-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/homeless-houseless-unhoused-or-unsheltered-which-term-is-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeless, Houseless, Unhoused, or Unsheltered: Which Term is Right?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Like Many Things, the Answer Depends on Who You Ask, and Too Few People Are Asking Those that it Actually Affects<\/span><\/h2>\n

Lately, there has been a lot of discourse surrounding the language used to refer to people living without stable shelter. More and more people are turning away from the most common term, \u201chomeless,\u201d in favor of alternatives like houseless, unhoused, unsheltered, and many more variations.<\/span><\/p>\n

This might confuse the casual observer about the difference between these terms and which one they should use. The simple truth is that different people use different terms for different reasons. When in doubt, it\u2019s best to ask the specific person you\u2019re referring to which term they prefer for themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or,\u00a0<\/span>you could just call them by their name.<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But when we\u2019re speaking more generally, a uniting term is helpful. So let\u2019s look at some of these different terms and their use.<\/span><\/p>\n

Houseless<\/span><\/h3>\n

Houseless is a term that rose mainly in response to the fact that while they may not live in traditional houses, many houseless people feel that they do have homes. Whether they\u2019re living in a tent encampment, sleeping in their vehicle, or returning to a specific spot each night, the area where they spend their time and store their items\u00a0<\/span>is\u00a0<\/span><\/em>their home.<\/span><\/p>\n

This distinction is important when conceptualizing the harm that houseless people endure from encampment sweeps and searches and seizures of their property. These actions aren\u2019t just unfortunate public interactions. They are sanctioned home invasions. The places where houseless people live are their homes. They should be recognized as such and treated to the same legal protections any other home enjoys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unhoused<\/span><\/h3>\n

Unhoused is probably the most popular alternative to the word \u201chomeless.\u201d It\u2019s undoubtedly the one I see most often recommended by advocates. But it doesn\u2019t have a meaningful difference in connotation from the more common term, \u201chomeless.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Proponents of the word say using it dodges the stigma inherent in the word \u201chomeless\u201d. While it may be true that hearing an unfamiliar word might cause people to stop and think a second longer, that benefit will disappear once the word becomes sufficiently common.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unsheltered<\/span><\/h3>\n

Unsheltered is a more general term that is only sometimes meant as a synonym for homeless. In everyday use, it could just mean \u201cexposed to the elements\u201d like an unsheltered bus stop. When it comes to homelessness, it usually refers to someone who is living in an area that is not meant for human habitation, like a car, sidewalk, or park.<\/span><\/p>\n

In that sense, it would exclude homeless people who are living in shelters or other temporary housing. It\u2019s a useful term when you want to talk exclusively about people who are \u201csleeping rough\u201d like that. But it\u2019s not a catch-all term you can use to refer to all homeless people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeless<\/span><\/h3>\n

Homeless is the common term that most people learn first. It\u2019s used by many shelters, government bodies, and other service providers. For many people, it may be the only term they ever hear to refer to this group of people. Though some advocates are starting to push back against its use and change their own language, most homeless people do not consider it to be an offensive term.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, everyone has a right to choose which terms they prefer to be referred to with, and you should respect that choice. But \u201chomeless\u201d isn\u2019t a bad choice as a go-to term since it\u2019s widely understood and not considered harmful by most.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just avoid blaming all your city\u2019s problems on \u201cthe homeless\u201d and making other sweeping generalizations. A lack of understanding and respect for the people you\u2019re talking about is much worse than word choice in this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Why Do We Have So Many Words?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Now that I\u2019ve said that most homeless people don\u2019t find use of the term \u201chomeless\u201d offensive, you might be wondering why we even have so many alternative words for it. And, while terms like \u201chouseless\u201d and \u201cunsheltered\u201d provide useful distinctions, the frontrunner of the pack, \u201cunhoused\u201d bases its value on being as of yet free of the stigma attached to the word \u201chomeless.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But the thing is, the word homeless\u00a0<\/span>isn\u2019t inherently<\/span><\/em>\u00a0stigmatized. It\u2019s the entire concept of homelessness<\/a> that\u2019s stigmatized. All the biases, stereotypes, misunderstandings, and hatred people have for homeless people don\u2019t dissipate the moment they\u2019re called unhoused<\/a> people.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of that will carry over to the new word, whatever it may be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are the Terminology Debates a Distraction?<\/span><\/h3>\n

As is often the case, the voices lobbying loudest for a change in language are not the voices of the people actually described by the language. Most people typing out angry comments or loudly lecturing others aren\u2019t homeless, houseless, unhoused, or unsheltered themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s usually someone who considers themselves an advocate for the people they\u2019re speaking about (or over) and is looking for a way to \u201chelp out\u201d that will give them some instant gratification. After all, it\u2019s much easier to shout at someone for saying homeless instead of unhoused than it is to confront the entire system of government and capitalism that keeps poor people marginalized and mistreated.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not to say that no one living without housing cares, because some people certainly have a strong preference for one term over another, and we should always respect that. But for housed people who are just looking for a way to help out, policing language isn\u2019t the most helpful thing we could be doing. It\u2019s certainly not our place to decide what other people should be called.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My advice is to sit this one out. Refer to individuals as they identify themselves to you. Use the more general terms in the appropriate context, and don\u2019t worry about trying to correct other people\u2019s language unless they\u2019re saying something really heinous. You may even find that taking a back seat in the terminology discourse frees up some of your energy to advocate for your homeless neighbors in a more tangible way!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like Many Things, the Answer Depends on Who You Ask, and Too Few People Are Asking Those that it Actually Affects Lately, there has been a lot of discourse surrounding the language used to refer to people living without stable … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":18913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10139],"tags":[253,832,17149,515,17148,508,14260,12867,16233],"coauthors":[8990],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21573,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18912\/revisions\/21573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18912"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-537697-2997182.cloudwaysapps.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}