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Great, glad you are trying to understand. Let me break it down a bit for you and if you still have questions, ask away. > The words "house" and "home" mean dif
by ternnoburn 2y ago
Great, glad you are trying to understand. Let me break it down a bit for you and if you still have questions, ask away.
> The words "house" and "home" mean different things.
A house is a physical dwelling unit for humans to occupy. It's a building. A home often implies a place you reside, where you find safety and joy. The difference between these concepts gives rise to the common expression "make this house a home".
People can have homes, even without a house. For instance, a digital nomad might live in an RV or van. They would call it home, but not a house.
> "Houseless" is more correct than "homeless"
If we decouple the idea of a physical house from the idea of a home, then "homeless" people might actually have homes -- a spot they feel secure in, a place they return to.
So calling them homeless is incorrect. One can have a home but not have a house.
> except that not all housing is houses, so you'd have to make it "housingless",
Many things aren't "houses" per se, though they are housing. Apartments aren't houses, condos aren't houses, RVs aren't houses, etc. The umbrella term for house structures is "housing". These people lack housing of any type, not homes, so they could be called "housingless".
> and "unhoused" is far less clumsy.
This person would rather say "unhoused" vs "housingless", because they find it easier to say.
Hope that's clarifying. I'm not interested in discussing whether the terms are good or bad. You can disagree with their use and keep using "homeless" for all I care.
I just want you to understand the post being presented. Again, feel free to disagree, I just don't want you to feel like "I don't understand the reasoning".
- asdf6969 2y agoWhat’s wrong with not having a house? If somebody has a home they’re fine the way they are. I don’t have a house and it’s not a big deal.
- ternnoburn 2y agoI don't think anyone here made any statements about the value of having a house?
- asdf6969 2y agoOk. I guess we all agree that being unhoused is not a problem
- ternnoburn 2y agoI don't think anyone said that either? You've twice now made some pretty bad faith assertions.
- asdf6969 2y agoYou are the stupidest person on this website
- ternnoburn 2y agoThat seems unlikely. I'm open to the possibility. You'd have to provide some evidence though.
- robertlagrant 2y ago> People can have homes, even without a house. For instance, a digital nomad might live in an RV or van. They would call it home, but not a house. I don't understand the logic at this point. The person living in an RV wouldn't be counted as homeless (RV is home) but should be counted as unhoused (RV isn't a house or any sort of fixed building)? If someone has somewhere they have shelter and feel safe, that they return to, then great, they aren't homeless. Shouldn't we be worrying about the other people, who don't have homes?
- specialist 2y agoPolicy wonks attempt to address this cognitive failure by coining terms to distinquish subsets of people without a permanent shelter (not by choice). Sadly, some people struggle with words having multiple meanings, sometimes dependent on context. While others revel in willfully refusing to understand what's what. Because arguing about correct use of language (oh the irony) distracts from taking action. A technique popularized by the OSS's WWII era field manual of sabotage.
- ternnoburn 2y agoI genuinely don't know the answer to your question. It seems like a reasonable possible interpretation? Second question, absolutely. I think we should be worrying about those people. (I personally think safe housing is a right, and something our government should provide, but now we're veering away from Tern's explaining terms to Tern's ideas on housing policy.)
- staticman2 2y ago>>> If we decouple the idea of a physical house from the idea of a home, then "homeless" people might actually have homes -- a spot they feel secure in, a place they return to. You're clearly missing something here. Nobody is using the term "homeless" to refer to people with a spot they feel secure in.
- tomcam 2y agoThanks for your hard work. To me unhoused vs homeless still seems not to be worth the additional cognitive load but I suspect you’re just way smarter than I am about these things. I was homeless briefly and I wouldn’t care what you would have called me.
- ternnoburn 2y agoI was homeless for a year. Totally felt the same. Call me whatever.
- tomcam 2y agoDamn son. You rock, seriously. Very happy to hear you got out.
- ternnoburn 2y agoWeren't great times. But learned a lot and developed a fair bit of trauma. It was thirty years ago, or thereabouts. People were.... different about it then. Better and worse about it. A lot fewer people calling for imprisonment, but a lot fewer people willing to extend a hand to help you.