isn’t this more reason to use the term homelessness? people who are homeless but don’t rough sleep still do need help finding a home. like obviously solving rough sleeping means giving them a home, not finding them a friend’s sofa to sleep on?
I guess they’re specifically looking at rough sleeping, as it’s one of the very visible manifestations of homelessness - both easier to track who needs support - and from a political perspective, easier to tell people you’ve solved it.
Wider homelessness is a much larger issue, harder to solve and harder to prove that you’re “doing well at it”.
Most homeless women find a place for the night. Staying on the streets is too dangerous for them.
Many homeless people don’t want to sleep inside or under other peoples’ rules. I worry the subtext of this story is that Burnham is going to criminalise sleeping outside.
why can’t the uk call homelessness, homelessness
Because not all rough sleepers are technically “homeless” and not all homeless people sleep rough.
For example, a domestic abuse escapee has a home, it’s just not safe to be in, so runs away and sleeps rough.
The other way round, many homeless are sleeping on a friend’s sofa, for example.
isn’t this more reason to use the term homelessness? people who are homeless but don’t rough sleep still do need help finding a home. like obviously solving rough sleeping means giving them a home, not finding them a friend’s sofa to sleep on?
I guess they’re specifically looking at rough sleeping, as it’s one of the very visible manifestations of homelessness - both easier to track who needs support - and from a political perspective, easier to tell people you’ve solved it.
Wider homelessness is a much larger issue, harder to solve and harder to prove that you’re “doing well at it”.
Most homeless women find a place for the night. Staying on the streets is too dangerous for them.
Many homeless people don’t want to sleep inside or under other peoples’ rules. I worry the subtext of this story is that Burnham is going to criminalise sleeping outside.
I have the same worry - though I’m hopeful that won’t be the case. The article sounds quite positive about it, but we’ll see what actually happens!
Because homelessness covers more than rough sleeping.
Sleeping on a mates sofa or in a hostel would still count as homeless but not rough sleeping.
Because we are not obligated to use US terminology for everything.