The Centre for Homelessness Impact supported work from academics from King’s College London to understand how language and its context can create and reinforce stigma associated with homelessness.

This project looked at thousands of social media posts which expressed views about homelessness.

People with experience of homelessness identified a minority they judged to be stigmatising. The authors analysed these to create a typology of how the use of language can contribute to and entrench stigma. The researchers used this to create a checklist with prompts and advice on how we can better report on and discuss homelessness in a non-stigmatising way

Findings in Brief: 

Researchers sourced 5,421 sentences posted on social media that discussed homelessness or the people experiencing it and, with the assistance of people with lived experience of homelessness, found that 943 were stigmatising or negative in tone. 

Their analysis found that this  dataset contained recurring themes when discussing people experiencing homelessness, these included: references to their appearance, common implications or accusations of personal shortcomings or bad life choices, and frequent links to substance use and addiction. 

They also noted descriptions that suggested individuals affected by homelessness were socially undesirable, of lower social standing, behaved abnormally and lacked human qualities.

‍

Recommendations: 

We have produced a handy guide to using non-stigmatising language when talking or writing about homelessness. We hope that by giving people the tools to change how they speak, stigmatising language for those experiencing homelessness will soon be a thing of the past.

The short checklist makes key recommendations in discussions around homelessness, including:

1. Focusing on the person and not their housing status
‍
2. Mentioning homelessness only when it is relevant
‍
3. Avoiding damaging stereotypes that surround people experiencing homelessness and,
‍
4. Making clear that homelessness is much wider than rough sleeping