Hey, I work in a political, social work adjacent field - “unhoused” can be used in an icky, “uncomfortable with the word homeless” kind of way, but it also has a specific meaning which is useful to us when we’re trying to hammer out political policy.
My current housemate is, technically, homeless - he is crashing on my couch and doesn’t have a home of his own, and “homeless” may be a useful word for him to use when talking about his situation and the way it impacts him. And there are situations where I am speaking/writing about homeless people in which he fits the bill, and I need to know things like how many people like him are in the state, what communities/areas they’re in, etc.
But he is not unhoused - he has shelter and access to facilities like a shower and a laundry machine and air conditioning/heating. There are other situations where I’m dealing with specific policy such as rules about encampments in certain areas, or where cooling centers need to be set up during the summer, in which - to put it bluntly - I don’t need to know he exists, and his situation should not count towards the numbers and demographics I need to know details about, and lumping him in with people living in a tent may make it harder to accurately provide for him or them.
This is not a tiered thing where one is worse than the other. But when we’re discussing policy and the legal/social/political framework that needs to exist to keep people happy and safe and healthy, his situation comes with different needs than an unhoused person, and the differentiation matters in a lot of situations beyond the broad emotional strokes of homelessness.
Please understand that while a specific word may not feel like it applies to you, and while you may (validly!) find frustration in that term as it applies to you and your experiences, that does not mean the word has no valid use, and it’s deeply frustrating to have specific and navigable language dismissed as just liberal bullshit when some people like me need that differentiated language for specific purposes.
These attitudes like the one you’re expressing (which again, is very understandable,) do seep into leftist communities in the real world, and I am speaking from experience here when I say it ends up making it harder and significantly more frustrating for us to work together towards our shared structural goals.
Hmmm I’ve been given a new perspective on this issue…much to think about.
Thank you for this information!
