“Unhoused” and “Homeless” – What’s the Difference?

This article is part of the Catalyst series called Language Matters on terminology and usage.

Like the problem of homelessness itself, the issue of language around homelessness is complex and multifaceted, with researchers, experts, and those with lived experience asking if there is a different way of talking and thinking about housing that would drive the conversation rather than mire it in stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. Like those experiencing housing insecurity – something that can be viewed on a spectrum of risk in terms of access to and maintaining shelter – there is no one right answer.

The term homelessness can broadly encompass “the situation of an individual, family, or community without stable, safe, permanent, appropriate housing, or the immediate prospect means and ability of acquiring it,” according to The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.

This can refer to those who are living in emergency shelters, couch surfing, living in encampments, those who are living in environments not intended for human habitation (such as cars, garages, or makeshift shelters), and those at risk of moving to these living arrangements. The definition encompasses not only income and housing, but also access to employment, health care, clean water and sanitation, schools, and childcare.

Word choice

The words we use do not, themselves, change the experience or impact of homelessness – but they can shape the conversation. For example, terms such as “houseless” or “unhoused” are emerging to place the emphasis away from the individual, and toward the bigger problem – a lack of affordable housing, something that is of great concern to 45 percent of people in Canada, as of late 2024 reporting from the Canadian Social Survey.

Al Wiebe knows these concerns. He is a housing advocate in Winnipeg who has experienced homelessness and describes himself as having no fixed address. He uses the word “homeless” to describe his experiences because, “a house is just a shelter, a roof over your head,” he says, noting that some people living in encampments, for example, may feel they have a “home” even though they are without a traditional “house.”

Further, Wiebe notes that more than 31 percent of homeless people come from Indigenous communities, with many people from within those communities noting that “unhoused” or “houseless” are more appropriate terms for those who may consider Earth their home.

Person-centred language

This term aligns with person-first language – something that focuses on the individual. For example, in the case of mental health conditions, you could describe a person as living with schizophrenia as opposed to “having” or “being” an illness, disability, or condition. In the case of housing – a lack of affordable options is the problem – not the person.

Pearl Eliadis talks about this nuance in “Turning Off the Tap: Preventing Homelessness for Victims of Violence,” her chapter in Ending Homelessness in Canada: The Case for Homelessness Prevention (2024), edited by James Hughes.

Eliadis is an associate professor at McGill University and a lawyer with more than a decade of experience, including work with the United Nations and the Canadian Human Rights Commission. She was working with Melpa Kamateros on a research project in 2021 as part of the Quebec Homelessness Prevention Policy Collaborative. At the outset, they were having a conversation on language.

Kamateros – co-founder and executive director of Montreal’s Shield of Athena Family Services – offering emergency shelter for those experiencing intimate partner violence – says care is needed in the use of the term.

“These women are not homeless, at least not as long as they are with our shelter!” Kamateros explains to Eliadis, who writes: “There is a feminist argument at play here: framing the experience of a woman fleeing violence as ‘homelessness’ places the focus of the policy problem on her; it reframes who she is, even though her circumstances were the product of someone else’s violence. The woman may be temporarily unhoused, but that does not make her ‘homeless’.”

Evolving ideas

Some sources, such as Regeneration Outreach in Brampton, Ontario use “homeless” to refer to someone with no fixed address and “houseless” to refer to someone who does not have a traditional home, but does have a place to stay, such as an RV or other non-permanent structure. Blanchet House in Portland, Oregon uses both “houseless” and “unhoused” interchangeably over the more stigmatized term, “homeless.”

However, as advocates are noting, changing the terms may eclipse the bigger issues.

“Even the benefit of switching from a word loaded with negative connotations to one that is denotationally the same thing but without those connotations only has a negligible benefit that lasts a few years, until stigma grows on the new word too,” wrote Frances Koziar, a young, disabled, retiree, and a social justice activist living in Kingston, Ontario in an Ottawa Citizen op-ed.

While language continues to evolve, it is only one part of a much larger issue. The debate over terminology should not be used as a form of virtue signaling without meaningful efforts to tackle the deeper challenges of housing affordability, mental health, and substance use.