Thinking that you are temporarily without a home implies that you will have a home in the future. Adopting the view that homelessness is a long-term status, rather than a temporary condition, can lead to despair. It’s one reason I’m told many who qualify for homeless services don’t accept them; to stop being homeless, you often have to find ways to pretend, sometimes even to yourself, that you aren’t. The fiction of having a home might just be the first step to getting one.
