You may have noticed in our recent newsletters and social media posts that we used the terms “houseless” or “houselessness” in place of the term “homeless” and “homelessness.” Houseless emphasizes the lack of housing rather than defining a person entirely by their situation, especially since this situation is usually temporary in nature. Houseless recognizes that an individual may still have a place they consider “home,” but lack a physical structure like a house or apartment to live in. The concept of “home” is often tethered to a sense of community, and a person experiencing houselessness is still a part of their community, regardless of their housing situation. This shift in verbiage aims to reduce stigma and promote empathy, realizing that housing situations are often affected by circumstances beyond a person’s immediate control.
We hope this shift will foster a more compassionate and understanding perspective, while acknowledging the need to address housing insecurity in our community. For additional resources on why this linguistic shift is happening, please refer to:
Why “houseless” instead of “homeless?”? — L A C A (lacommunityalliance.org)