The Emotional Dimensions of Homelessness
It was Saturday, May 18, 2024. As I walked through the bustling streets of Kuala Lumpur, camera in hand, my mission was simple: to enjoy some "me time" by casually embarking on street photography. As I wandered through the city's vibrant arteries, I noticed a homeless person at the corner of a building along its five-foot walkway.
This sight got me thinking about "Homelessness".
When discussing homelessness, why do we never refer to them as "houseless"? We generally perceive them as - not having a house, right?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, a house refers to a building, while a home refers to a more personal and emotional sense of where someone lives (a place). So, according to this definition, they are not just houseless; they also lack a community to turn to.
In architecture school, we've been taught about the concept of a "Sense of Place". A “Sense of Place” is usually defined as an overarching impression encompassing the general ways in which people feel about places, sense it, and assign concepts and values to it. If a particular place holds significant memories — where you met your first love, copied during exams, or got hit by your mum — then the sense of place is stronger for you.
Therefore,to have a home, we need more than just a piece of land and a building. What we need is also a sense of place, which requires a significant emotional investment.
Perhaps we can provide comfort to the homeless not only through material assistance but also through simple gestures of acknowledgment and compassion. After all, while basic needs such as sleeping and eating can be met anywhere, feeling truly at home requires the warmth of human connection — a gesture that embodies our shared humanity.