This guide examines how real world language shapes public understanding of homelessness and contributes to stigma, exclusion, and policy responses. Drawing on a large corpus of everyday language used in media, institutions, and public discourse, it demonstrates that words are not neutral descriptors but active social tools that frame who is seen as deserving, responsible, or marginal. The report shows how routine labels, metaphors, and narratives can strip people of individuality, reduce complex lives to deficits, and reinforce distance between housed publics and people experiencing homelessness.

The guide sets out clear principles for person centred, accurate, and ethical language. It emphasises describing situations rather than defining people, foregrounding structural causes over individual blame, and avoiding terms that sensationalise, criminalise, or dehumanise. The guide addresses the phrases and constructions that practitioners, journalists, policymakers, and researchers actually encounter and reproduce.

Practical examples illustrate how small linguistic shifts can produce meaningful changes in tone, attribution, and implied responsibility. These changes matter because language shapes attitudes, influences professional practice, and subtly guides policy priorities. The guide therefore positions language as a site of intervention, not merely reflection.

Overall, the report offers an evidence informed resource for anyone communicating about homelessness. It supports more respectful public conversations, helps organisations align language with values of dignity and inclusion, and contributes to wider efforts to challenge stigma while improving understanding of homelessness as a social and structural issue. It is intended for use across contexts.