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

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.