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| - In mid-December 2024, a number of social media accounts shared a statement attributed to SpaceX founder, X owner and soon-to-be government efficiency adviser Elon Musk, in which he called the word "homeless" a lie.
This example (archived) appeared on X on Dec. 10:
(@begonetrump / X)
The quote was correctly attributed to the tech entrepreneur. On Dec. 10, Musk posted (archived) the following: "In most cases, the word 'homeless' is a lie. It's usually a propaganda word for violent drug addicts with severe mental illness."
(X user @elonmusk)
Reactions to the post emerged in the U.S. and abroad, as well as on X. In some cases, Musk's words were reported with a slight twist. In particular, one mass syndicated article from British newspaper The Independent reported that he "called homelessness a lie" (emphasis added). While this was not the exact word the X owner used — in this case, "homeless" is an adjective describing a person or persons, and "homelessness" is a state of being — substituting "homelessness" for "homeless" in this context arguably has little impact on Musk's intended meaning.
The SpaceX founder has a documented history (archived) of suspicion against organizations working with people who lack housing.
Musk's classification of homeless people as "drug addicts," as seen in his Dec. 10 post, also appeared in a separate post from Jun. 10 (archived), in which the tech mogul also said the word "homeless" is a lie.
(X user @elonmusk)
A significant portion of so-called "homeless people" in American cities are clearly not sane in any meaningful sense of the word.
The word "homeless" is a lie, as it implies that all they're missing is housing, as if they just got a little behind on their mortgage payments.
An accurate description of many would be: extremely drug-addicted and mentally zombified. This is not subtle.
In addition to this, Musk has repeatedly posited (archived) (archived) the idea that the "Homeless Industrial Complex" exists, a long-standing theory that funds given to organizations claiming to help homeless people do little to reduce the number of people lacking housing.
Studies do generally support the claim that mental illness and addiction play a large role in homelessness and some suggest this aspect of the problem should receive much more attention than it does, but none have stated or implied that the word "homeless" is a lie.
Snopes has reported extensively on Elon Musk, including fact checks about whether he went undercover at a restaurant as a homeless person and various claimed business acquisitions.
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