• snooggums@lemmy.world
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    23 days ago

    Not sure about Canada, but in the US:

    Homeless = no permanent residence, which also includes couch surfing, parents and children who just fled an abusive family member and are temporarily ltaying with friends or relatives, and people who are living in their car. All people without a home.

    Unhoused = homeless people that don’t have a roof over their heads. Might include living in a car.

    • Grimy@lemmy.world
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      23 days ago

      They are synonyms. Please don’t make things up.

      Edit: to all the knee-jerk downvoting. This is literally a quote from an article the user himself supplied as proof that there is a difference.

      Unhoused is probably the most popular alternative to the word “homeless.” It’s undoubtedly the one I see most often recommended by advocates. But it doesn’t have a meaningful difference in connotation from the more common term, “homeless.”

      It’s literally just a pc synonym of homeless.

      • snooggums@lemmy.world
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        23 days ago

        They are not. I work with data collections on students and have had to explain the difference to people who don’t understand that a kid who is kicked out of their home and is staying with friends is homeless even if they are not out on the street for federal reporting.

        Homelessness defined in law: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/11302

        A more thorough explanation that contrasts the terms: https://invisiblepeople.tv/homeless-houseless-unhoused-or-unsheltered-which-term-is-right/

        • Grimy@lemmy.world
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          23 days ago

          And what’s the definition of unhoused according to law? You aren’t wrong in what you just said but its missing the point, unhoused literally means the same thing. The goverment only uses the term homeless if I’m not mistaken.

          Unhoused is probably the most popular alternative to the word “homeless.” It’s undoubtedly the one I see most often recommended by advocates. But it doesn’t have a meaningful difference in connotation from the more common term, “homeless.”

          That’s a quote from the link you just gave.

          • snooggums@lemmy.world
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            23 days ago

            And what’s the definition of unhoused according to law?

            Amazingly enough, most words aren’t defined in law!

            • Grimy@lemmy.world
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              23 days ago

              Do you think Cornell defining homeless but not unhoused might be a hint that they are synonyms?

              Not to mention you brought up the legal definition of homeless without offering anything to compare it to and help your point. That is the sole reason I brought it up.

              You gave me a definition of homelessness, which doesn’t counter what I said in the least and then gave me a article that sides with me (and then ignored it completely when I pointed it out) so I’m a bit puzzled.

              But I guess sarcasm is easier then admitting you are wrong.

              • snooggums@lemmy.world
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                23 days ago

                Do you think Cornell defining homeless but not unhoused might be a hint that they are synonyms?

                That is quoted US statute, made available in an easy to access format through Cornell, not Cornell defining anything.

                You gave me a definition of homelessness, which doesn’t counter what I said in the least

                I gave you an article that discusses the terminology and how it is used for context that differing terminology is no inherently all different names for the same thing. It doesn’t define anything, it just makes it clear that there can be differing terminology that means different things and that the whole thing is a complicated topic. That is why I linked the article, not to prove definitions that don’t exist because the terminology varies in usage and consideration of importance.

                But I guess sarcasm is easier then admitting you are wrong.

                Any statement of how words are used will be wrong somewhere, except for things like the quoted law that is true in the context of written law in that country/region/whatever. There is always local or regional differences in usage.

                So I am right about how we use it in our context to explain the concept of homelessness in the legal context even if some other people think it is a synonym, but thing other terminology has an important distinction. That is what I said, and if you can’t understand there isn’t a black and white defined terminology for all the variation then you aren’t getting my point.

                • Grimy@lemmy.world
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                  23 days ago

                  Backtrack all you want but you made a blanket statement saying they weren’t synonyms for the entirety of the country when it only seems to apply to your personal context.

                  You then gave me a link to a meaningless definition and an article that clearly stated I was right, and then topped it off with rude sarcasm when I pointed it out.

                  The terminology seemed very black and white when you thought you were right, bro.

                  • snooggums@lemmy.world
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                    23 days ago

                    I was trying to be clear I wasn’t talking about Canada, which the article was about, and that my example was from the US,. Not saying it was literally true throughtout the the entire US.

                    Apparently I needed a full essay to avoid you reading meaning into things. Congrats, you win the internet.