4 ms·

It depends on the situation; I would absolutely consider someone homeless if they don’t know where they are going to sleep tonight, or three days from now, etc

It depends on the situation; I would absolutely consider someone homeless if they don’t know where they are going to sleep tonight, or three days from now, etc and does not have a safety net. A friend lets you crash on the couch a few days then back to sleeping in your car as your only option aside from sleeping in the streets - that’s homeless for sure in my book. I would not consider someone homeless who chooses to couch surf around friends’ pads for a while as they figure out something permanent, but has options and means, certainly not homeless

tharkun__ 2y ago
Agreed. That's why my emphasis on the word home. You can have shelter, i.e. a roof over your head but you don't have what you'd call a home but you want a home. Shelter is also a loaded word, i.e. what about the "homeless" person that has a tent and is camping out in a rail yard somewhere? Is that enough "shelter" to count? A "digital nomad" that crashes on a different friend's couch, possibly in different countries even every month by choice is not really homeless. Someone that can't afford / find a place other than a friend's couch or their car is homeless. Even if he's not completely shelterless. Same with a homeless person sleeping in a homeless shelter. They have shelter. But no home. This one gets more complicated in terms of the wording because some of these homeless people have been doing it for so long that they actually seem to prefer to be home and shelterless in some cases. Sometimes they don't really prefer sleeping in a church entrance during sub-zero (C) but they prefer it over the rules or company in the homeless shelter (e.g. alcohol / pet related). These are many of the "living in the streets" people my parent commenter thought were the only ones that count as homeless I suppose.

4 ms·

It depends on the situation; I would absolutely consider someone homeless if they don’t know where they are going to sleep tonight, or three days from now, etc

by frank_nitti 2y ago

tharkun__ 2y ago
Agreed. That's why my emphasis on the word home. You can have shelter, i.e. a roof over your head but you don't have what you'd call a home but you want a home. Shelter is also a loaded word, i.e. what about the "homeless" person that has a tent and is camping out in a rail yard somewhere? Is that enough "shelter" to count? A "digital nomad" that crashes on a different friend's couch, possibly in different countries even every month by choice is not really homeless. Someone that can't afford / find a place other than a friend's couch or their car is homeless. Even if he's not completely shelterless. Same with a homeless person sleeping in a homeless shelter. They have shelter. But no home. This one gets more complicated in terms of the wording because some of these homeless people have been doing it for so long that they actually seem to prefer to be home and shelterless in some cases. Sometimes they don't really prefer sleeping in a church entrance during sub-zero (C) but they prefer it over the rules or company in the homeless shelter (e.g. alcohol / pet related). These are many of the "living in the streets" people my parent commenter thought were the only ones that count as homeless I suppose.