In recent years, nonprofit workers and advocates have been trying to change how we describe unhoused people. Rather than say “the homeless” or “homeless person,” they prefer “person experiencing homelessness.” It’s a people-first language, which focuses on the person, rather than their circumstance.
Changing the language around homelessness
Peter, a homeless man in Los Angeles, in front of the Civic Center. Photo credit: Levi Clancy [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
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