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Comment by yeutterg | Hacker News Reader

FYI, as an urban American I had never heard the term rough sleeping. Some brief Googling leads me to believe this is an alternative term for homelessness mostly used in the UK.

You may consider changing the title to include the word homeless. It's more descriptive to Americans, at least to n=1.

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I figured it out in about 3 seconds. Context clues are often used by Europeans to figure out what the hell we're talking about; we can do the same.

“Rough sleeping” doesn’t mean “homeless.” It means “sleeping outside without shelter.” Homeless people live in cars, shelters, or on friends’ couches, too, not just literally on the street.

Point taken and appreciated. I agree that homeless is a bit of a catch-all, but I'm not sure that we have any equivalent phrase to rough sleeping in the US (at least on the East Coast). When I hear the word homeless, I first think of people living on the streets.

"unsheltered" is the term used in the US.

Haven't heard it used much, but it makes total sense. Thanks!

Do you count tents and cars as shelter that disqualifies "sleeping rough"? I wouldn't, but you included cars in your counter example.

Traditionally yes, they do count, but as it becomes a more longterm solution and people start modifying vehicles for the purpose it becomes a grey area. https://www.urban-initiatives.org/reports/are-all-persons-sl...

I'm an American city-dweller and I've heard or read the expression 'rough sleeping' or 'sleeping rough' before. It isn't common in the US but it's not exactly difficult to determine from the context in the article either.

Is this site only for Americans?

Rough sleeping is used in Australia

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