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Terms That Refer to Homeless Populations: National Surveys of Several Stakeholder Groups
Jack Tsai1, Katherine Kelton1, Jeffrey Gluff1
1National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Tampa, Florida (all authors); School of Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston (Tsai); Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina (Elbogen).
Objective:
This study examined the descriptive terms used in referring to homeless populations.
Methods:
Data were from a 2020 national survey of 6,607 middle- and low-income U.S. adults with or without lived experiences of homelessness and a 2021 survey of a convenience sample of 354 U.S. researchers, homelessness service providers, and policy makers.
Results:
Among the middle- and low-income adults, 70%-73% reported using the term "homeless person," although adults with histories of homelessness were more likely to use "person experiencing homelessness" than those with no such histories. Among the providers, researchers, and policy makers, ≥39% reported using "person experiencing homelessness" in both writing and speaking, and they also had consensus around using "person at risk of homelessness" and "person in shelter."
Conclusions:
Most stakeholders agreed that "homeless person" or "person experiencing homelessness" are acceptable terms. Because usage may vary by social background, profession, and individual, best practice may be to ask individuals with experiences of homelessness what terms they prefer to use.
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