Comments on: Homeless Americans: What’s in a Name?

By: Jan

Jan — Wed, 30 May 2012 21:02:53 +0000

I do appreciate this blog and so much of what is written, including the parts here about the power of a name and the dehumanizing effect of a label. But I would like to add another layer if I may.

The term "Homeless Americans" still has the same effect as "the homeless" because it implies a permanency. I am Caucasian, that won't change. To be described as a "Homeless American" makes it sound like a permanent characteristic. I have struggled for the best way to describe clients that my agency serves and the one we think is least dehumanizing is "people experiencing homelessness."

It doesn't roll off the tongue and it takes up a lot of characters on twitter, but it does put the person first, and it emphasizes the point that homelessness is a temporary state of being rather than a permanent physical characteristic or class to which you belong. It is something happening to them, rather than what they are. Sometimes I further make my point with audiences by using "people currently experiencing homelessness" because the population of humans experiencing homelessness changes every minute.

Thank you for continuing to post excellent commentary.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 30 May 2012 18:27:35 +0000

Let me push a bit and say no to Homeless American or a "Homeless Child, parent, veteran." Rather let's say a person who is homeless.Let me push a bit and say no to Homeless American or a "Homeless Child, parent, veteran." Rather let's say a person who is homeless.

By: joseph2dogs

joseph2dogs — Wed, 30 May 2012 05:36:36 +0000

I always am pleased by your articles Joel, because you always try to open peoples Eyes to ways of Changing attitudes that dehumanize us thank you .

By: DrMMcLaughlin

DrMMcLaughlin — Tue, 29 May 2012 21:28:37 +0000

I prefer to emphasize an individual's or group's humanity as in "homeless people," "disabled people," "Mexican people," etc.

By: @stephenpimpare

@stephenpimpare — Tue, 29 May 2012 19:09:32 +0000

Yes. Just as we can talk about "people living in poverty" or "poor or low-income people," instead of "the poor" (as if they were some undifferentiated mass), so too can we avoid some objectification and use language to better name the problem: thus, "people without permanent homes," "people living on the street," "families living in homeless shelters," "homeless veterans with untreated mental illness," and so on. People lack housing for a range of reasons, and as Roberts observes, to refer to "the homeless" is as crude and distancing as it is inaccurate.

By: Kathryn Baer

Kathryn Baer — Tue, 29 May 2012 18:42:56 +0000

But not all homeless people in the U.S. are Americans–a term we conventionally reserve for citizens. I personally see no problem with the term I just used. "The homeless" is different because it names a group of human beings as if they were objects.