Identities Related to Homelessness

Perhaps it should have come as no surprise that the word "homeless" was generally seen as stigmatizing and unacceptable by these community members. The initial lack of awareness of this on the part of the researchers may have been a factor in the difficulty of getting the participation of more community members in interviews. It seems that it was much more than a matter of semantics or of using a more "politically correct" term. People sometimes seemed to recoil from the use of the word "homeless," and, more than once, a conversation that had been going along fairly well would suddenly go flat once the word "homeless" was used by their interviewer. Facial expressions and body language became closed, and conversations either limped along for a while afterwards or were abruptly ended. Many of the community members interviewed tended to deny their own homelessness. As one respondent stated, "I'm not homeless. I've never been homeless. I've stayed in shelters and the Rescue Mission, but I've never been homeless." Another person queried, "I'm not homeless. Would you like to see my home?" Home could be an abandoned house or car, a tent in the woods, or a cardboard box. Home could be a series of shelters in different towns. But there were not many people who were willing to have the label of "homeless" applied to them. Some tolerantly allowed the interviewers to use the word and then gently informed them, "We call ourselves street people." Others said, "I don't call myself nothin', I call myself (name)." Overall, there was no general agreement on a preferred term.

Analysis of Community Member Interviews

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Extent of Homelessness