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argmax t1_iu8buw5 wrote

Reply to comment by Worldwidewitu in People suck (Begin rant) by CoffeePeddlerRVA

A quick language question: How is houseless different from homeless?

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lycosid t1_iu8is1f wrote

Twofold:

  1. A house is a house. It’s got walls and minimum standards of livability under the law. A car or a tent can be a home, but not a house.

  2. Home can have a value connotation (think “home is where the heart is”) that advocates are trying to avoid by using the more neutral term.

Functionally, whether someone uses homeless or houseless they are talking about the exact same thing and everybody knows what they’re talking about, so it doesn’t really matter which you use unless you’re trying to be very specific.

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