News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Homelessness reaches highest reported level in the U.S. in 2023. Parent comment

Re:Homelessness reaches highest reported level in the U.S. i... by 542458 on Saturday December 16, 2023 @09:27AM (#38664418)
I think there’s also a gradient to “not having a home” here that isn’t discussed. Does “homeless” describe somebody who is illegally squatting? Somebody who has lost their home and is crashing on friends couches? Youth who have a home but do not want to return to it? Somebody who stays in a shelter every night? The group I work with uses “underhoused” as the term, which I think better describes the situation.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Homelessness reaches highest reported level in the U.S. i... by ben_w on Saturday December 16, 2023 @09:38AM (#38664510)
IIRC, the terms in the UK are "homeless" if you have no fixed abode and "sleeping rough" if you have no access to permanent shelter. If you're limited to couch surfing, that's the first but not the second.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Homelessness reaches highest reported level in the U.S. i... by jeffbee on Saturday December 16, 2023 @09:41AM (#38664532)
Homelessness is well-defined by HUD and the definition has been the same for decades. The report discussed here almost certainly missed numerous homeless people because it is based on the point-in-time count, where local agencies go out in the field for one day and try to find homeless people, which overlooks some classes of homeless.
[ Parent | on HN ]