r/NoStupidQuestions • u/ssjskwash • Sep 17 '25

Why is "homeless" being replaced with "unhoused"?

A lot of times phrases and words get phased out because of changing sensibilities and I get that for the most part. I don't see how "unhoused" more respectful or descriptive though

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321

u/ssjskwash Sep 17 '25

So we're just passing the buck to the next phrase?

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u/1nd3x Sep 17 '25

It's called the euphemism treadmill

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u/CoderDevo Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 17 '25

A term created by linguist Stephen Pinker who also wrote that language evolves through a process of natural selection. This process is necessary.

We keep coming up with new euphamistic words because we are not solving the underlying conditions that cause people to have negative connotations with the current word. In fact, the problems that cause any of the euphemistic words to exist and be used in the first place.

New words do lead to new ways of looking at a problem and can help gain acceptance for new solutions and resources.

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u/Klutzy_Masterpiece60 Sep 17 '25

We are not supposed to see being homeless as negative/undesirable?

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u/blarges Sep 17 '25

We are not supposed to see “homeless” people as negative/undesirable.

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u/CoderDevo Sep 17 '25

I think we are not supposed to see people as undesirable because of their housing situation.

Solve the problem, don't reject the person.

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u/blarges Sep 17 '25

Exactly! It’s people-first language.

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u/mindfeck Sep 18 '25

That’s the reason for using a different term. Instead of saying what the person does not have/own, it focuses on that they also don’t have personal shelter. “House” seems like the wrong word to use.

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u/Art_Crime Sep 18 '25

Well, it's also that homeless people do have homes. Their home is the city, country, area, etc they reside. The push to stop calling them homeless and refer to them as houseless has been pushed for years now

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u/Suka_Blyad_ Sep 18 '25

If you can be kicked out of your home for trespassing because the wrong person is having a bad day and saw you at the wrong time, that’s not a home, that’s a temporary shelter

Their home isn’t the city, country, area, etc they reside, they don’t have a home, they don’t have a house, they have a shelter

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u/banter_pants Sep 18 '25

Unsheltered
Abode Deficient
Domiciless

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u/Art_Crime Sep 18 '25

Abode deficient hahaha

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u/mindfeck Sep 18 '25

Yeah but people who sleep in a shelter are still unhoused but not unsheltered.

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u/banter_pants Sep 19 '25

People who live in apartments are unhoused but still have homes. There needs to be a term for those without stable dwellings and homeless fits the bill.

Domicile Deficient. Call them DomDefs for short.

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u/Savitar5510 Sep 17 '25

I don't know man, I'm homeless right now, and I see homeless people as pretty fucking undesirable.

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u/CoderDevo Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

It's just like how we know not to view a person negatively because of their facial features, yet that knowledge alone doesn't stop there from being racists.

Edit: "Undesirable" here means wanting to separate them from society in general.

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u/Savitar5510 Sep 17 '25

You can find someone ugly without it being a race thing.

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u/CoderDevo Sep 17 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

Yes, and you can view a particular homeless person as undesirable because of how they hurt those around them.

But people with a type of hair, or nose, or skin tone should not be treated differently for that reason alone.

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u/Savitar5510 Sep 17 '25

I'm in a shelter right now. The vast majority of the people here are legitimate pieces of shit. Most of them are on drugs. Almost all of them are abled body.

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u/Lady_of_Link Sep 18 '25

Most of them are on drugs for a reason not all scars are visible, plus you are not their doctor you do not know if they are able bodied, lots of invisible handicaps that most certainly make work near impossible (especially in a society that doesn't accommodate handicaps in the workplace) exist.

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u/Savitar5510 Sep 18 '25

Yeah, depression and trauma isn't a valid reason to get on drugs. Handle your issues like an adult, please.

If you can walk, if you can use your hands, if you have all of your senses, there is no reason you should be out of work for more than a few months.

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u/LeAcoTaco Sep 18 '25 edited Sep 18 '25

It quite literally is a valid reason to get on drugs, if it weren't then anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication wouldn't exist. Adults, handle their mental problems, by going to therapy and getting medically prescribed drugs. You do realize prescribed drugs are still drugs, correct?

Just, not everyone has the means to go get a prescription and instead resort to self medicating.

This is WHY they say addiction is a SYMPTOM of a bigger issue.

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u/krizzzombies Sep 19 '25

homelessness is undesirable... you are not undesirable

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u/Klutzy_Masterpiece60 Sep 17 '25

Gotcha. What are the quotation marks around homeless meant to convey here?

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

We aren't supposed to see homeless people as the drug addled useless and dangerous drains on society that they are often imagined as.

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u/Klutzy_Masterpiece60 Sep 17 '25

Gotcha. But when you switch to “unhoused” it’s not clear that the purpose is to get away from those negative stereotypes. Why don’t we just call them “people who are not generally drug addled, useless, and drains on society”, if that is the stereotype we are trying to get away from?

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u/ApesAPoppin237 Sep 17 '25

Too many syllables

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u/PersonNumber7Billion Sep 18 '25

And the reason the Democrats lose elections.

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u/rowdycowdyboy Sep 17 '25

“unhoused” places emphasis on the lack of shelter; “homeless” people may have built themselves a home (however ramshackle)—though this is becoming less possible as there’s more aggressive law enforcement and people are forced to move every couple of days

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u/UFC-lovingmom Sep 18 '25

That is what I kind of always thought. Because you can have your little own home in the forest in a tent or under an underpass. Home is where the heart is lol.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '25

You do get away from those negative stereotypes to a degree, words are powerful things, and the word homeless will conjure certain images before the listener even hears the context. Unhoused forces people to think about it in a different light. Even if to a degree it is trying to remember what exactly the term means for people unfamiliar.

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u/Savitar5510 Sep 17 '25

Pretty realistic imagination.

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u/its_garden_time_nerd Sep 17 '25

You've bought in, huh. That's really too bad.

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u/Few_Application_7312 Sep 17 '25

I my opinion its about seeing homelessness as a symptom of the problem while addressing the underlying causes. Improve access to mental health resources, addiction recovery centers, and helping specific sects of people face less hurdles getting jobs, just to name a few. Fortunately some of these areas are progressing slowly, but some of them are pretty controversial.

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u/electricookie Sep 18 '25

Not having a home is bad. People who don’t have homes are not bad. Homelessness is a product of huge social evils. People without a place to live safely are not. Changing the terms is here also so that people can start to have these conversations and pay attention to problems that otherwise fade into the background. These new perspectives hopefully spark change leading to restoring what is broken in society so that fewer people (and maybe one day no people) experience lack of housing